Mastercard has announced the launch of TRACE (Trace Financial Crime) in Asia Pacific, an artificial intelligence-powered solution designed to detect and prevent money laundering and financial fraud within payment networks. The introduction of TRACE marks an effort to strengthen financial security in the region, particularly within Real-Time Payments (RTP) systems. 

The rise of RTP has enabled individuals and businesses to complete transactions within seconds, whereas similar processes previously took days. However, this rapidity has also made RTP systems a target for financial criminals who use sophisticated methods to move illicit funds across multiple accounts. Money launderers and fraudsters frequently rely on “money mules”, including unwitting individuals, to facilitate these transactions, making detection more challenging. 

Traditional fraud prevention methods used by financial institutions typically rely on in-house monitoring systems and semi-manual processes, which often lack a broader, network-wide perspective. Investigations can take weeks to complete, allowing illicit funds to be dispersed before authorities or banks can intervene.

Matthew Driver, Executive Vice President, Services, Asia Pacific, Mastercard, highlighted how TRACE represents a major development in securing real-time payments and combating financial crime. 

“The launch of TRACE in Asia Pacific marks a transformative step toward safeguarding the integrity of Real-Time Payments while combatting the corrosive effects of financial crime. By ensuring that transactions remain secure and compliant, TRACE helps to protect consumers and financial institutions, while also fostering trust in the digital economy—which will be critical for the region’s economic growth. Mastercard is proud to have collaborated with BancNet on its pilot rollout in the Philippines and is ready to collaborate with other stakeholders across the region to implement TRACE to create a stronger, more resilient global financial system.”

TRACE seeks to address the challenges of financial crime by providing financial institutions with a network-level view of transaction patterns, allowing them to identify suspicious activity across multiple banks rather than being limited to data within their own systems. By analysing large-scale payments data, the solution can trace potentially fraudulent transactions across the network and alert banks to possible instances of money laundering and financial crime. This broader perspective enhances the ability of financial institutions to identify money mule accounts and track the movement of illicit funds in real time.

TRACE was first launched in the United Kingdom in 2018 and has since been adopted by 21 financial institutions, including major banks, covering 90% of the UK’s Faster Payments Service network. Since its implementation, the solution has helped identify thousands of money mule accounts and continues to uncover hundreds of new fraudulent accounts each month. Mastercard has positioned TRACE as a network-agnostic solution that can be deployed across different payment networks, offering a flexible approach to tackling financial crime in various markets.

With the expansion of TRACE in Asia Pacific, Mastercard aims to collaborate with financial institutions, regulators, and payment networks to enhance financial security across the region. By providing a comprehensive approach to detecting and preventing illicit transactions, TRACE is intended to strengthen protections against financial crime while supporting regulatory compliance and maintaining trust in the financial system.

(Source: Mastercard)

• TAGS:
• Fraud
• Mastercard
• Matthew Driver
• Real-Time Payments
• Security
• TRACE
• Trace Financial Crime