XTransfer CEO: B2B Fraud Controls Must Read the Trade

Deng shared three lessons from the front line in a statement issued in Bangkok on Nov. 10, 2026. The World Bank’s Global Findex 2025 puts adult account ownership at 79%, a rise of 28 percentage points in a decade. But faster payment systems accelerate both legitimate transfers and fraud, he said. A response launched by the IMF, World Bank Group and Bank of Thailand at the 2026 Annual Meetings—the Bangkok Blueprint—recognizes that cyber-enabled fraud is an ecosystem problem no single institution can solve alone.

Automation can process large volumes and flag unusual activity quickly, but an alert does not explain why a payment differs from a customer’s pattern. It may reflect a new buyer, a seasonal change in orders or a previously unseen fraud method. B2B payment messages often lack the commercial history that could distinguish a legitimate anomaly from a suspicious one: inquiries, purchase orders, shipments and invoices. Deng said frontline staff familiar with how small exporters work should be part of the control process.

He also cautioned against exporting one set of controls across Asia-Pacific, where regulation, payment systems, customer behaviour and fraud patterns vary sharply. Shared risk principles and common descriptions of fraud schemes can travel across markets, he said, but controls need local calibration. Experience across several regulatory environments can help institutions separate broadly applicable principles from practices shaped by a particular market.

Fraud patterns also cross borders, Deng said, making information-sharing important. Regulator-supervised, privacy-protecting exchanges could help one market’s warning reach another without requiring identical rules. SME payment infrastructure remains fragmented across banks, providers and jurisdictions, while fraud can begin on social platforms, marketplaces or telecom networks. Deng said institutions, platforms, regulators and law enforcement each hold part of the picture. He added that security should make safe payments easier without excluding legitimate users. The views are his own; XTransfer said its participation in digital safety discussions at the Annual Meetings did not imply endorsement by the IMF, World Bank Group or Bank of Thailand.