Mastercard has partnered with Feedzai, an AI-driven financial crime prevention provider, to improve the way that banks detect and prevent scams.
Under the agreement, the companies will leverage Feedzai’s advanced fraud platform, which is used to protect consumers and financial institutions in over 90 countries. This will help accelerate the deployment of Mastercard’s Consumer Fraud Risk (CFR) solution across global markets.
CFR provides real-time insights to both sending and receiving banks in account-to-account payments, helping to detect and prevent scams. Since its launch in the UK in 2023, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) data shows a 12% decrease in the value of authorised push payment (APP) scams.
Johan Gerber, Executive VP, Head of Security Solutions at Mastercard, said: “With more than half the world’s population affected, the scale of scam fraud is not only having a devastating impact on consumers but also surpassing the GDP of many individual economies.
“Together with Feedzai’s global platform we will scale our first-of-its-kind scams solution to more markets, helping more financial institutions combat financial crime faster than before.”
According to Feedzai, its Financial Crime Prevention Platform is used by top financial institutions to protect over a billion consumers worldwide and safeguard more than $8trn in transactions annually.
The platform analyses every digital transaction, from card purchases to real-time transfers, detecting multiple risk signals in real-time. By integrating device intelligence, network data and behavioural biometrics, Feedzai’s AI identifies suspicious activity instantly, aiming to prevent fraud before any money is lost.
Nuno Sebastiao, CEO of Feedzai, commented: “We are excited to expand our partnership with Mastercard to address escalating financial crime threats.
“The exponential growth in scams underscores the urgency for financial institutions to adopt AI-based, real-time solutions. We’re excited to be working together with Mastercard to help bring the proven value of its CFR score to new markets for the first time.”
Fraud is becoming more sophisticated, using technology such as AI to con people out of money. Mastercard has stated that this cost more than $1trn last year, with more than 50% of consumers saying they had encountered a scam at least once a week.
The rise in successful scams has led to increased pressure on reimbursements. This resulted in a lengthy debate last year before the PSR introduced new reimbursement rules, ensuring that both paying and receiving firms equally share the costs, with a 50:50 split.
Julie Conroy, Chief Insights Officer, Datos Insights, stated: “The global epidemic of fraud and scams has created a pressing need for innovative technology solutions. In the face of this rapidly rising threat, financial institutions should consider third-party data as an essential part of their strategy for fraud defence.
“By building on Mastercard’s proven CFR score and extending it globally, this partnership delivers a powerful combination – Mastercard’s global data expertise and Feedzai’s purpose-built risk scoring capabilities.”
