Security as a Competitive Advantage in Business Payments
In today’s economy, discussing transaction security means discussing digital trust.
The starting point is simple: The way we transact has changed; it is now faster, more connected, and constant.
In this context, the global payments ecosystem—which integrates bank transfers, cards, digital wallets, direct account-to-account (A2A) payments, corporate payments, e-commerce, and instant payments—is growing at historic rates. According to the World Payments Report 2025, the global volume of non-cash transactions (digital payments) reached 1.411 trillion in 2023 and is on track to reach 1.650 trillion in 2024, with a projection of 2.838 trillion by 2028 (Capgemini Research Institute, 2025). This growth explains what we see every day in treasury, collections, bulk payments, and cross-border transactions: companies reconciling accounts, distributing payroll, paying suppliers, and collecting payments in real time; and, as a natural consequence, the more money that circulates through digital channels, the more attractive it becomes for fraud.
This acceleration is also reshaping Latin America. The region’s digital payments market is projected to triple by 2027, while e-commerce is expected to exceed $260 billion by 2028 (Fintech Futures 2025). Brazil has already led the way: Pix reached 64 billion transactions in 2024, growing 53% year-over-year and surpassing the combined volume of debit and credit cards; furthermore, digital payments now account for a growing share of e-commerce and point-of-sale transactions, while cash usage is steadily declining (PYMNTS, 2025). Colombia is riding the same wave with Bre-B, the Banco de la República’s national instant payment infrastructure, based on “keys” that enable 24/7 transfers in a matter of seconds; in its first weeks, it surpassed 20 million registered keys (Banco de la República, 2025a, 2025b; El Tiempo, 2025). For companies managing their treasury with Cobre, this means increasingly instant and connected payments. When money moves in seconds, security can’t be left behind.
Global figures confirm the shift: in 2023, there were 266.2 billion real-time payments, representing a 42.2% year-over-year increase (ACI Worldwide & GlobalData, 2024). At the same time, card payment fraud amounted to approximately $34 billion in 2023, with a projected cumulative cost of nearly $400 billion over the next decade (Nilson Report, 2024, 2025; Juniper Research, 2023). But the most significant figure lies in the method: authorized fraud, known as APP fraud (Authorized Push Payment fraud), is on the rise. This occurs when the attacker does not breach the platform but instead deceives the right person (for example: impersonating a supplier, sending fake urgent instructions, or using AI to mimic voices and emails) until the user or treasurer voluntarily authorizes a transfer, believing it to be legitimate. That is why Europe adopted Verification of Payee (VoP): a mandatory pre-verification for instant payments that acts as a “traffic light” before sending money, because the bank automatically compares the name the payer entered with the actual name on the recipient’s account and displays a result such as: Matches / Almost matches / Does not match; if it does not match, it alerts the user to correct or stop the payment, reducing both human errors and identity theft. This requirement takes effect in October 2025 (EU Regulation 2024/886; PwC Legal, 2025). The message is clear: in instant payments, the human factor is the core of the risk.
In corporate treasury, this is even more critical because the amounts involved are high, approvals are numerous, and operational pressure is constant. Even robust infrastructures can be breached if the human element fails, as happened with Pix in 2025, when compromised internal credentials facilitated a diversion of nearly $100 million (Associated Press, 2025). The conclusion is clear: effective security protects both systems and decisions. That is why modern models combine continuous verification (Zero Trust), adaptive multi-factor authentication (MFA), real-time monitoring with behavioral analytics, encryption and tokenization, approval controls, least-privilege access, and traceability. At Cobre, these layers are operationalized through configurable rules, smart alerts, and automatic reconciliation, allowing money to move quickly without losing control.
The bottom line is clear: If your company is transacting faster than ever, make sure your human processes evolve as well. Review who approves payments, how beneficiaries are verified, and how prepared your team is to handle increasingly sophisticated identity theft attempts. To ensure that evolution keeps pace with your business, rely on a platform that allows you to manage your payments and treasury operations in a centralized, secure, and traceable manner. With Cobre, your company can move money in real time with greater control and operational visibility, reducing friction and strengthening trust in every transaction. Because in a world of payments in seconds, the advantage isn’t just speed—it’s speed with confidence, and Cobre is designed to help you achieve that.
