Collaboration is the secret weapon against fraud in A2A payments

The evolution of the payments industry has made one thing clear: progress is rarely linear. Real-time payments (RTP) are transforming how money moves – fast, frictionless and increasingly borderless. But with every leap forward, new risks emerge. And right now, fraud is the shadow chasing innovation in payments.

The same qualities that make RTP so powerful – reliability, convenience and instant settlement – also make them a magnet for fraudsters. When the UK introduced its faster payments system in 2008, the landscape of payment fraud began to shift. By 2022, 95.6 per cent of authorised push payment (APP) fraud cases and 83.1 per cent of APP fraud losses occurred via the Faster Payments System.

Fraud continues to pose a major threat, with the UK reporting over £1bn stolen through payments fraud in 2024. What’s clear is that the shift to faster, digital transactions has created new opportunities for criminals. No market is immune: India, Thailand and the Philippines have all faced similar challenges.

Regulators have responded with new frameworks. In the UK, the Payment Systems Regulator (now merged with the FCA) introduced shared-liability rules that require banks and other payment firms to reimburse victims of authorised push-payment fraud – a shift that places greater responsibility on financial institutions. 

Peter Reynolds, EVP of Real-Time Payments at Mastercard, notes that “shared-liability rules are a step forward, but they do not fully address the complexity of today’s payment ecosystem. The onus on banks is significant, yet fraudsters continue to exploit gaps that no single player can close alone.”

Reynolds poses a critical question: “Who should be held accountable for tackling fraud in real-time payments?” The uncomfortable truth is no institution can solve this alone.

This is certainly true for the UK, where no single institution has the full visibility, data or resources to address the complexity of today’s threat. But the same challenge is felt across other markets. As Wijitleka Marome, London Chief Representative of the Bank of Thailand, notes in recent industry research: “One single operator – however capable – cannot meet the diverse demands of an interconnected, high-frequency payment environment alone.”

“Marome’s point is a wake-up call,” says Reynolds. “The pace of modern fraud is relentless, and no single institution can outrun it. In a world where payments move in seconds, trying to go it alone isn’t just risky, it’s unrealistic.”

Policymakers play a crucial role in setting rules and guardrails – mandating data sharing, minimum security standards and clear liability frameworks. But regulation alone is never enough. The best results happen where central banks, banks, fintechs and payment networks innovate, adapt and respond in real time. 

Andrew Kawere, Director of National Payment Systems at the Bank of Uganda, echoes this sentiment in the report, stating: “The central bank’s role is a ‘catalyst’, rather than an innovator.”

Policy makers can lay the groundwork, but it’s the private sector that brings the technical depth and agility needed to keep pace with evolving threats.
 

The fight against payment fraud is no longer confined to banks and payment networks. Today, the threat landscape spans financial institutions, telecoms and – critically – social media platforms, where scammers can exploit new channels to reach victims. Fraudsters thrive in the blind spots between organisations and across borders, using impersonation and manipulation to orchestrate authorised push-payment fraud.

Traditional security measures, designed for siloed environments, struggle to keep pace with these tactics. No single institution can see the full picture or respond quickly enough on its own. That’s why the ability to share and leverage data across sectors is one of the most powerful tools available.

By closing the gaps between sectors, the industry can disrupt the methods scammers rely on and reinforce trust across the broader ecosystem. As more data is pooled, the ability to identify suspicious patterns improve. It’s the network effect in action: each additional participant helps make the system smarter and more resilient.

As an example, Australia’s Scams Prevention Framework (SPF), introduced in 2025, sets a new standard for this kind of collaboration. By extending obligations beyond banks to include telecommunications companies and digital platforms, the SPF recognises that fraud prevention must be an ecosystem-wide effort. These actors are now equally responsible for preventing, detecting and reporting scams, reflecting the reality that payments fraud is no longer a problem confined to the financial system.
 

“Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: when fraud happens, who ultimately absorbs the loss? In RTP, there’s no “undo” button for completed transactions. The UK’s new 50:50 reimbursement rule for APP fraud offers important consumer protection, but it’s not the finish line,” Reynolds says. Other markets are reaching similar conclusions. Singapore and Australia are taking bold steps, making telecoms and digital platforms part of the solution. As Reynolds notes: “The future rests on shared responsibility, aligned with which participants had the ability – and the obligation – to prevent fraud at each stage.”

One example of this approach in practice is Mastercard’s capabilities that score a payment both at initiation and upon receipt. The global payments provider powers the RTP systems of 12 economies and in the UK has built a network of data permissions across banks and fintechs, allowing the analysis of more than 95 per cent of UK real-time payments. Currently, 15 banks use its AI powered real-time transaction-scoring tool, Consumer Fraud Risk, to help protect customers. Further developments, such as A2A Protect, aim to expand consumer protection, complementing banks’ own efforts and adding a fraud and loss reporting mechanism for richer fraud insights. 

“As accountability broadens across the ecosystem, telecommunications and social media companies are increasingly important partners in tackling APP fraud,” says Reynolds. “While our partnership with Verizon supports card payments, it illustrates how combining network analytics with payment insights can help block scam attempts before they reach consumers. The broader takeaway is clear: effective fraud prevention depends on cross-sector collaboration, regardless of the payment rail.”
 

Across markets, collaboration among banks, fintechs, scheme operators, and regulators consistently reveals one conclusion: innovation without trust cannot succeed. If consumers do not feel safe, adoption stalls. And when institutions fail to collaborate, fraudsters gain ground. 

“When we get industry alignment right, the impact is enormous,” shares Reynolds. “Real-time payments can drive financial inclusion, empower small businesses and connect economies at an unprecedented scale. The IMF estimates cross-border payments hit $1qn in 2024. Imagine the possibilities if we make those flows instant, secure and accessible for everyone.”
 

Reynolds emphasises that progress will require the industry to move beyond siloed approaches. “We need systems where data is shared responsibly, accountability is collective and privacy is protected,” he says. Real progress against fraud depends on collaboration, with banks, telecommunications companies, social platforms and payment networks  pooling expertise and sharing intelligence to outpace increasingly sophisticated scams.