THE FINTECH INTERVIEW
“ Granular payment behaviour also strengthens forecasting by revealing patterns and exceptions as they happen – helping identify delayed receipts, unexpected outflows or concentration risks before they become issues.”
Embedding this data through APIs within ERP and TMS systems allows organisations to handle exceptions more quickly and strengthen oversight. As a result, foreign exchange execution is enhanced by synchronising conversions and hedging strategies with verified payment flows, ultimately creating a more agile treasury function that improves liquidity management, mitigates risk and supports real-time business needs.
And, while speed may be essential, it cannot come at the expense of security. As payments become faster and more digital, Tom says the challenge is to strengthen fraud controls without adding unnecessary friction.
“ As payments become faster and more digital, protection has to keep pace without adding unnecessary friction,” he says.“ That means embedding smarter controls across the payment journey – using advanced analytics to spot unusual behaviour early, applying risk-based checks that step up only when something looks genuinely suspicious and continuously refining screening to reduce false positives.”
AI, he says, is becoming central to that effort because it can learn patterns across transactions and alerts in ways that improve detection over time.
For him, the goal is simple: strong, consistent safeguards that protect customers and the financial system, while keeping legitimate transactions flowing smoothly and reliably.
Virtual accounts and embedded payments Tom also sees growing value in virtual accounts and embedded payment solutions, especially for corporates looking to simplify treasury operations and reduce manual work.
“ Virtual accounts and embedded payments are reshaping treasury by turning payment flows into cleaner, more actionable data,” he says.“ Rather than maintaining hundreds of physical bank accounts, organisations can use a small number of central accounts with virtual identifiers mapped to customers, entities, regions or even individual invoices – making incoming funds easier to track and enabling faster, more automated reconciliation.”
“Clients want partners who can combine innovation with reliability and global reach”
Tom Halpin Regional Head of North America Global Payment Solutions HSBC
30 August 2026