CIBI Impact 2026: IDfy Segment (From left to right: Raghuraman Chandrasekhar, Country Head Philippines, IDfy; Bob Reyes, Technology Columnist, Manila Bulletin; Pia Arellano, President & CEO, CIBI Information, Inc; Uttiya Mukherjee, Global Propositions Head, IDfy).
Banks and fintech firms may have sophisticated fraud controls, but scammers still hold one crucial advantage: they can move across the financial system while institutions often see only their own piece of the puzzle.
That blind spot is becoming a major concern as fraud schemes grow more connected, automated and difficult to detect.
Industry leaders are now pushing for broader intelligence sharing among banks, fintech companies and government agencies in an effort to spot suspicious activity earlier and prevent scams from spreading across multiple platforms.
One of the key initiatives is the Fraud Intelligence Data Sharing Network, or FIDS, which allows participating institutions to exchange fraud intelligence and gain a wider view of emerging threats.
The network includes public and private sector partners such as BDO, RCBC, GoTyme, SB Finance and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center.
The urgency behind the initiative was highlighted at CIBI Impact 2026, where regulators and financial industry executives warned that fraudsters are increasingly exploiting the gaps between institutions.
“The fraudster or the scammer can see the complete picture, but the institutions involved in this scam or fraud cannot,” said Atty. Roberto L. Figueroa, General Counsel of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
“This is the gap, therefore, that we need to close.”
Fraud is no longer staying inside one bank
The digitalization of financial services has made it easier for customers to move money, open accounts and transact online.
Unfortunately, it has also made it easier for criminals to do the same.
Fraud networks can use phishing, stolen identities, mule accounts, deepfakes and compromised credentials to move funds across multiple banks, e-wallets and digital platforms before suspicious activity is fully detected.
According to a whitepaper by IDfy, 34% of Filipinos were affected by fraud in 2025. Digital fraud is also estimated to cost corporations as much as ₱4 trillion annually.
For financial institutions, the challenge is that suspicious behavior can look harmless when viewed in isolation.
A transaction at one bank may appear normal. Another transfer on a separate platform may also look legitimate. But when those activities are connected, they may reveal a much larger fraud scheme.
“No institution can see an entire fraud pattern on its own,” Figueroa said.
“But through trusted data, coordinated verification, timely intelligence, and sound legal safeguards, we can make the system more capable of detecting fraud early and preventing it from moving further.”
AI is making fraud harder to fight
Artificial intelligence is adding another layer of complexity.
Financial institutions are increasingly using AI to detect unusual transactions, analyze behavior and automate risk decisions.
Fraudsters, however, are also using AI to make scams more convincing and scalable.
Deepfake videos, synthetic identities, automated phishing messages and increasingly realistic impersonation attempts are raising the difficulty of verifying who is really behind a transaction.
That is pushing institutions toward more advanced identity and behavioral intelligence.
GBG’s 2026 Fraud Survey found that 73% of financial institutions in Asia-Pacific are using behavioral analytics for fraud risk management, while 64% have adopted unified fraud platforms.
The numbers suggest that many institutions are strengthening detection capabilities, but still face challenges in connecting intelligence across different systems.
“We can no longer assume that an identity, an account, or credentials is trustworthy because it appears legitimate,” said Pia Arellano, President and CEO of CIBI Information Inc.
“The question for institutions is whether they can verify, understand, and see beyond their own line of sight.”
Fraud detection is becoming a data-sharing game
The growing threat is changing the way the financial industry thinks about fraud prevention.
Instead of relying solely on internal transaction monitoring, institutions are being pushed to understand behavior across a broader ecosystem.
“When trying to identify an emerging threat, a single transaction or a single interaction rarely tells the whole story,” Arellano said.
“You need to understand behavior over time and see patterns across the ecosystem. That requires intelligence that extends beyond the information held by any one institution.”
That is where shared fraud intelligence could become a critical advantage.
By connecting suspicious activity across banks and platforms, financial institutions may be able to identify mule networks, compromised identities and coordinated attacks earlier.
The goal is not simply to stop one fraudulent transaction, but to recognize the network behind it.
The next fintech battleground is visibility
The fight against digital fraud may ultimately come down to who has the better view.
Fraudsters already operate across institutions, platforms and identities. Banks and fintech firms, by contrast, are still working to close the information gaps between them.
FIDS represents one attempt to change that by giving participating institutions a broader picture of suspicious activity.
“Fraudsters do not operate within the boundaries of one bank, one fintech or one platform,” Arellano said.
“They move across the ecosystem, exploiting the gaps between institutions. If the threat is connected, then our defences need to be connected, too.”
As scams become faster and more sophisticated, the financial sector may need to accept a new reality.
The next big weapon against fraud may not be another standalone security tool.
It may be getting banks, fintech companies and regulators to finally see the same threat at the same time.
