Mastercard has introduced its innovative artificial intelligence (AI)-based Consumer Fraud Risk solution in the United Kingdom, where nine prominent banks have integrated this technology to combat real-time payment fraud.

As part of Mastercard’s latest initiative to improve financial security, Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, NatWest, Monzo, and TSB have adopted the new AI-powered solution.

Mastercard has collaborated with UK banks over the past five years to monitor the movement of funds through mule accounts, which criminals frequently use for illicit activities. Mastercard’s AI solution equips banks with real-time intelligence by leveraging insights gleaned from this monitoring process and specific analysis parameters, including account names, payment amounts, and payer and payee histories. This allows them to terminate a transaction before fraudsters irretrievably lose the funds.

TSB, one of the solution’s earliest consumers, has reported a significant increase in its fraud detection capabilities within the first four months of implementation. Mastercard estimates that the United Kingdom could prevent fraudulent payments totaling nearly £100 million annually if all banks adopted this technology and achieved equivalent success rates.

Mastercard’s President of Cyber and Intelligence, Ajay Bhalla, commented on banks’ difficulties in detecting these frauds. He stated, “Banks have found these scams incredibly challenging to detect. Their customers pass all the required checks and send the money themselves; criminals haven’t needed to break any security measures. Using the latest AI technology, we are helping banks identify and predict which payments are being made to fraudsters and stop them in real-time.”

Mastercard selected the United Kingdom as the initial launch site for its Consumer Fraud Risk AI solution because of the country’s extensive experience in tracing and preventing financial crime across its real-time banking system. Additionally, the company has been instrumental in encouraging banks to share their misconduct data.

As part of its ongoing commitment to securing global financial transactions, the world’s largest payments processor is evaluating the viability of expanding this solution to other international markets.