What keeps CFOs up at night? One dark vision is surely that of an unsavory character crouched over a computer keyboard, devising a way to divert a vendor payment into a fraudulent bank account. This is a very real fear for finance executives around the world, as I learned from Baptiste Collot, co-founder and CEO of Trustpair. The brainchild of his company, Trustpair Payment Fraud Prevention, is the leading payment fraud prevention platform for large companies and one of the hottest products on SAP Store – and I mean hot in the right way.

 

Baptiste is a career problem solver and former treasurer who knows an opportunity when he sees it. He was employed with a large enterprise based in Paris when he found himself spending more time dealing with the security challenges of paying vendors than he did on his day job. “Why don’t we use business-to-business payment technology?” he wondered at the time. Lacking confidence in electronic payment transfers, worried about exposure to fraud, company executives directed the finance team to pay vendors by bank check. The massive inefficiency of the processes involved was enough to keep Baptiste himself awake at night. “It was a nightmare,” he said.

 

At the heart of the problem was a huge lack of trust, he observed. “You want to pay your vendors, but you need to trust the data you will be using for payment. You have to validate that a bank account is in fact owned by the vendor. There is either too much data or not enough, without the people in place to manage it. If you call a company to verify their banking information, people typically don’t want to share that – and they feel even less safe when talking to someone in another country in a different language.”

 

Teaming Up to Pair Trust with Data

 

There had to be a way to pair trust with data. In 2017, along with two partners with complementary backgrounds, he kicked off Trustpair. His friend Alexandre Gillier brought marketing expertise, while Simon Elcham, a colleague of Alexandre’s earlier in his career, was a good fit for the technology side. After working together for a few months, the three left their jobs and began concentrating on software development and building a team.

 

They succeeded in creating a solution that automates bank account validation. Trustpair validates third-party bank ownership information in seconds using basic details – securing B2B payments even across international banking entities. It automatically detects errors and anomalies within databases and helps manage cleanup, continuously monitoring to sync vendor data in real time.

 

Initially, the company did well, but there was a lot of competition – not from other companies, but from “doing things the same way.” And selling to large enterprises, the obvious target market, was a challenge. That all changed during the pandemic, Baptiste said. “Accounts payable teams weren’t meeting in person. Cyberattacks were exploding, using more sophisticated means including artificial intelligence and deep fakes, even on the phone. Companies were being forced to replace their manual processes.”

 

Joining Forces with SAP

 

In 2020, the Trustpair team connected with the SAP.iO program in Paris, which provides targeted support and engagement opportunities to select startups to drive innovation in new markets. Introductions to SAP product and marketing teams provided a big boost, accelerating Trustpair’s expansion throughout Europe. Native integration with SAP software is key to adoption, Baptiste remarked, and customers quickly see the value of having Trustpair in their SAP software environment.

 

As the world moves from checks based B2B payments to electronic funds transfer methods like ACH/Wire transfers, companies are forced to deal with bank account validations. Europe was the early adopter and now US is catching up, presenting a major opportunity for Trustpair. Consequently, Trustpair has opened an office in New York City and is actively recruiting talent in North America. Baptiste relocated to the city this year, “because it’s important to have the co-founder and CEO in the U.S. to build those local relationships.”

 

The partnership with SAP continues strong, and Baptiste added that Trustpair has hired an employee who is dedicated to managing the SAP partnership. After all, most customers run SAP software, including SAP Ariba solutions for procurement and payments. As for inclusion of the Trustpair platform on SAP Store, “Its’s already had a big impact,” Baptiste said, “and we consider that the beginning of a journey.”

 

Meanwhile, what’s your organization doing to prevent B2B payment scams? Time to check out Trustpair Payment Fraud Prevention on SAP Store.