Swift to launch AI-powered fraud defence for cross-border payments

Starting in January 2025, we’ll be rolling out an AI-powered fraud detection capability that aims to help the financial industry tackle increasingly sophisticated forms of financial crime.

This enhancement builds on our existing Payment Controls Service (PCS) and follows a successful pilot with financial institutions across Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East. The rollout is part of our broader collaboration with our global community of more than 11,500 banks and financial institutions to test how AI can solve pan-industry challenges. 

Fraud was estimated to cost the global financial services industry USD 485 billion in 2023 alone. To help solve this problem, we’re harnessing AI to give financial institutions stronger and more accurate insights into the occurrence of potentially fraudulent activity.

Using pseudonymised data from billions of transactions across our network, the enhanced service will detect and flag suspicious activity, enabling banks to respond more quickly than was possible before. 

A new era of defence against fraud

The rollout of this enhanced service is a key milestone in our strategic vision to make end-to-end international transactions instant and frictionless while maintaining trust, security, and compliance.

“Bad actors are using increasingly sophisticated tactics to commit financial crime,” says Swift’s Chief Product Officer, Jerome Piens. “The global financial industry needs to raise its defences higher to ensure their customers can continue to transact globally with confidence.” 
 

Pioneering federated learning and privacy-enhancing technology

Since February, we’ve also been working with leading global financial institutions to explore how federated learning, combined with privacy-enhancing technologies, could enable market participants to share information without revealing their proprietary data. 

The group has so far developed a number of fraud detection use cases which are set to be tested in a sandbox environment.

“Swift has a long track record of supporting our community by staying one step ahead to maintain the security and resilience that our network is known for - and now we’re doing so again by harnessing the latest technology,” Jerome says. 

What the community is saying:

Olivier Nautet, Head of Cybersecurity, Nicolas Trimbour, Head of Fraud Prevention Cash Management, and Su Yang, Head of Artificial Intelligence Transaction Banking, from BNP Paribas said: "Collaboration across the banking sector is crucial to enhancing fraud detection, and by sharing data and leveraging AI, we empower ourselves to stay ahead. At BNP Paribas, we are fully committed to supporting Swift’s innovative initiative in that regard, as it marks a key step forward in protecting the integrity of our financial ecosystem."

John McHugh, Head Operations Control – CIB, at Standard Bank said: “Standard Bank Group, Africa’s biggest bank by assets, has participated in Swift’s initiative for AI fraud detection capability to enhance the security of its customers’ transactions. The technology will identify suspicious patterns in real time, reducing fraud risk and ensuring a safer banking experience for clients. By leveraging the power of AI, Standard Bank Group reaffirms its commitment to innovation and safeguarding the financial assets of its clients - who are our main asset.”