(16 February 2026) – As cyber-fraud and consumer scams reach an industrial scale in 2026, financial institutions are facing a critical turning point. A new white paper by Ken Palla, featured by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA), reveals that the traditional method of banks monitoring transactions in isolation is no longer enough. Instead, the industry is moving toward “Network Risk Signals”—a collaborative approach where payment system operators provide a bird’s-eye view across multiple institutions to catch fraudulent patterns that were previously invisible.
This strategic shift allows for the early detection of “money mule” accounts and abnormal transaction velocities before funds ever leave the system. While individual banks can only see their own data, network operators can identify a single scammer targeting dozens of different banks simultaneously. Real-world implementations are already showing success, from Pay.UK’s Faster Payments in Britain to emerging real-time pilots like FedNow in the United States and EBA Clearing in the European Union.
Despite the clear benefits, the transition to a signal-sharing economy faces hurdles such as data privacy and regional sovereignty. However, the report highlights how cutting-edge Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs), such as Fully Homomorphic Encryption, are now making it possible to analyze risk and share intelligence without exposing sensitive personal data. This technological leap, combined with the global rollout of the ISO 20022 messaging standard, is creating a richer, more transparent data environment for fraud fighters worldwide.
Are you ready to see how these network-level insights could reshape your organization’s defense strategy? Click here to read the full white paper and explore the technical deep dive on GASA.org