Supplier payments are where fraud and sloppy FX meet. The invoice is familiar. The account number on the bottom has changed, or the currency is your problem, or a single login can send it. The checks are short and they belong in the process every time, not only the first time.
The beneficiary is the risk
Match the legal name, the account, and the bank identifier to a source you did not receive in the same email as a ‘new details’ request. Call a known number. A changed account is a normal event in real life and the classic setup in fraud. Pause. The delay is cheaper than the recovery, which often does not happen.
Currency and charges
Agree which currency the supplier is owed. If you convert, compare the amount they will receive. Ask whether an intermediary can deduct a fee so that a ‘paid in full’ invoice arrives short. If you hold their currency already, a conversion may be unnecessary. That is a treasury choice, not a moral one.
Who inside the company can send it
Maker-checker, or dual approval, means one person prepares and another releases. The two should not share a login. Batch files of supplier payments need the same discipline as a single large transfer. A finance tool connected by an API should have its own access controls. Convenience is how a compromised mailbox pays a fraudster.
Check the payee, the corridor and the paperwork before the first invoice
Paying a supplier in another country adds a beneficiary check, a currency choice and often a set of documents to an ordinary invoice run. Confirm the account details on a channel you already trust, not by replying to an email that changed the bank account. Fraudulent payment-detail changes are a standard loss for international businesses. Call a known number. Then set the beneficiary up and restrict who can change it.
Ask what information must travel with the payment so the supplier can reconcile it and so their bank will accept it. A reference, a purpose and sometimes an invoice are more than politeness. Ask your bank whether a payment to that country needs extra information. Sanctions and local rules can make a corridor slower or unavailable. If the bank cannot pay, that is a fact to plan around, not a slight.
Know the currency you think you have agreed
The contract should say who bears the exchange rate and who bears intermediary fees. If it does not, you and the supplier are guessing, and the amount that arrives may not match the invoice. Agree it. Decide whether you convert or they do, and compare the landed amount rather than the label on the fee. Keep the invoice, the payment confirmation and the supplier’s receipt. They are the accounting record and the source-of-funds story if a bank later asks why the money left.
If you pay many suppliers, ask whether a batch or a dual-approval process exists so one person cannot both set up a beneficiary and release the money. That control matters more as the amounts grow, and it matters immediately if directors are in different countries and email is the only check.
Before you act
Do a small payment first when the relationship and the corridor are new, if the supplier will accept it, and check that the amount they received matches what you both expected after fees. Then scale. Store the beneficiary details in the banking system once they are proved, and require a second person to approve a change. Directors who live in different time zones need that control written down, because an email chain is a weak second approver. Reconcile the payment to the invoice in the accounts in the currency of the invoice and record the currency you actually sent. That habit is what makes a later question from a bank or an auditor boring, which is what you want.
A practical checklist
- Beneficiary details verified out of band.
- Currency agreed.
- Amount received checked if you are converting.
- Two people required for release.
- Invoice and payment reference stored together.
- A rule for what happens when details change.
Questions to ask
- Who can add a beneficiary, and who can pay them?
- What must happen before a changed account is used?
- How much arrives after fees?
- Can an intermediary deduct more?
- How do we evidence the payment later?
- What is the cutoff time for this corridor?
Common mistakes
- Trusting new bank details in an email thread.
- One person allowed to create and approve.
- Looking only at the sending fee.
- Paying a personal account for a company invoice without a reason.
- No record of the rate on a large conversion.
WiT Access provides general information and comparison resources. Nothing on this website constitutes financial, tax, legal or investment advice. Always consider obtaining advice from an appropriately qualified professional.
