As the most liquid asset of a firm, cash plays a crucial role in corporate financial management. How to manage cash effectively has become a core financial issue for firms seeking competitive advantages and long-term value creation. Taking the pilot policy of industry-finance cooperation as a quasi-natural experiment, this study examines the impact of industry-finance cooperation on corporate cash holdings using a staggered difference-in-differences method, based on data from Chinese A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2024. The results show that industry-finance cooperation significantly reduces corporate cash holdings. Mechanism analysis reveals that industry-finance cooperation lowers firms' precautionary, transactional, and agency motives for holding cash through the risk-mitigation effect, cost-optimization effect, and monitoring-governance effect, thereby reducing the level of corporate cash holdings. Heterogeneity analysis further indicates that the reduction effect of industry-finance cooperation on corporate cash holdings is more pronounced among firms facing higher environmental uncertainty, lower market share, and greater managerial myopia. Extended analysis shows that the impact of industry-finance cooperation on cash holdings enhances the value of corporate cash holdings. These findings provide important implications for firms seeking to optimize cash-holding decisions and improve the efficiency of cash management.