Most middle-market companies have never benchmarked their treasury and bank fees against the market. According to R5 Cost Reduction, that oversight is costing them 10 to 30 percent more than they need to pay.

Across thousands of client engagements, R5 has found that treasury fees are among the most consistently overlooked sources of excess spending for mid-sized organizations. The overcharges are not dramatic enough to trigger a red flag on any single statement, but they compound significantly over time.

Where the Overcharges Hide

R5 identifies five recurring issues in nearly every treasury fee engagement:

Excessive per-transaction charges. Companies processing high volumes of ACH, wire, and check transactions are often paying rates that were set years ago and never revisited.

Uncompetitive foreign exchange spreads. FX margins are rarely benchmarked. Banks set spreads based on what they believe the client will accept, not what the market supports.

Outdated account structures. As companies grow, add locations, or shift their transaction mix, their account configurations often fail to keep pace. The result is a fee structure designed for a business that no longer exists.

Hidden monthly maintenance fees. Recurring charges for account maintenance, reporting, and platform access often go unquestioned because they are treated as a fixed cost of doing business.

Fees for unused services. Legacy services that were added during onboarding or a prior treasury review continue to generate charges long after they stopped providing value.

Why These Fees Go Unchallenged

"Banks do not call you to let you know you are overpaying," said Matt Cauller, CEO and Co-Founder of R5 Cost Reduction. "Their pricing is not transparent and it is not designed to be. Most middle-market companies have never benchmarked their treasury fees because they do not have access to the data, and the bank is not going to hand it to them."

Cauller noted that many finance leaders hesitate to push back on bank pricing because the relationship extends beyond treasury services. Credit facilities, investment accounts, and lending arrangements create a dynamic where companies feel they cannot negotiate fees without putting something else at risk.

"That concern is understandable, but it is almost always overstated," Cauller said. "We are not asking anyone to switch banks. We analyze the fee structure, benchmark it against unpublished market data, and bring a data-backed case to the bank. In most situations, banks would rather adjust pricing than risk losing the relationship entirely."

How R5 Approaches Treasury Fee Optimization

R5 takes a hands-on approach that starts with a detailed analysis of 12 months of bank fee statements. The firm benchmarks every line item against proprietary market data, identifies overcharges and misaligned fee structures, and then negotiates directly with the bank on the client's behalf.

The process is designed to preserve the existing banking relationship. R5 does not recommend switching providers unless the client requests it. Most treasury fee engagements are completed within 90 days and require minimal time from the client's finance team.

R5 operates on a contingency-based model with no upfront fees, no retainers, and no risk to the client. The firm earns a share of verified savings that appear directly on the client's invoices. If R5 does not find savings, the client pays nothing.

Beyond Treasury Fees

Treasury fees are one of more than 40 indirect spend categories that R5 optimizes for middle-market and multi-location companies across the U.S. and Canada. Other categories include wireless telecom, utilities, waste removal, merchant services, freight and shipping, payroll processing, property tax, laundry and uniforms, maintenance agreements, and cloud infrastructure.