Mastercard has launched the Trace Financial Crime (TRACE) solution in the Asia-Pacific region, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered network-level solution designed to detect and prevent money laundering and financial crime.
The platform leverages large-scale payments data from multiple financial institutions to provide a comprehensive view of illicit activities across a payments network.
According to Mastercard, the rise of real-time payments (RTP) in Asia Pacific has enabled instant transactions but also attracted money launderers and fraudsters.
Criminals move funds through multiple accounts, often involving unsuspecting victims in scams. Traditional bank detection methods, relying on isolated data and manual processes, struggle to track these activities across institutions
TRACE addresses these challenges by analysing transactional patterns across an entire payments network, proactively alerting banks to suspicious accounts and identifying money-mule activities.
By incorporating data points from multiple institutions, the platform provides a network-wide perspective. This allows financial institutions to detect and trace illicit transactions more effectively.
Mastercard Asia-Pacific services executive vice president Matthew Driver said: “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.”
Mastercard first deployed TRACE in the Asia-Pacific region in the Philippines, in partnership with local interbank network BancNet.
The implementation supports the country’s anti-financial crime framework, including compliance with the newly enacted Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA).
BancNet has onboarded 36 domestic banks to use TRACE, enabling them to track suspicious transactions and prevent fraudulent activities within the country’s RTP system, InstaPay.
TRACE is designed to be network-agnostic and can be integrated into various payment networks across the region.
The UK is the only other market where Mastercard has deployed TRACE. Launched in 2018, the solution is now used by 21 financial institutions and tier-one banks, covering 90% of the UK’s faster payments service network.
