Belgium-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) has announced an AI-driven pilot project in collaboration with Axis Bank aimed at combating payment fraud in cross-border transactions. The initiative involves several global banks, including BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank, DNB, HSBC, Intesa Sanpaolo, and Standard Bank. Together, these institutions will test secure data collaboration and federated learning technologies to enhance fraud detection.

The pilot will utilize a secure infrastructure allowing financial institutions to exchange pertinent information while maintaining strong privacy-preserving controls. SWIFT's AI anomaly detection model will analyze this enriched dataset to identify potential fraud patterns, providing deeper insights into fraudulent activities.

"For the purpose of fraud control, this pilot looks at how we can incorporate newer technologies like artificial intelligence into the algorithms that we have", said Neeraj Gambhir, group executive for treasury, markets, and wholesale banking products at Axis Bank.

The collaboration represents a significant step forward in the fight against payment fraud, leveraging cutting-edge technology to strengthen security measures across the banking industry. By integrating AI and secure data-sharing practices, SWIFT and its partners aim to create a robust defense against increasingly sophisticated fraud tactics, ensuring safer cross-border payments for financial institutions worldwide.