Card giants Mastercard and Visa leaned into AI and generative AI for fraud detection in the first quarter.  

“We continue to enhance our solutions with generative AI to deliver even more value,” Chief Executive Michael Miebach said during Mastercard’s May 1 earnings call.  

During the quarter, the card giant added generative AI to its Decision Intelligence solution, which helps banks score and approve transactions, Miebach said.  

“The next-generation technology, Decision Intelligence Pro, is supercharged by generative AI to improve the overall score and boost fraud detection rates on average by 20%,” he said.

Ajay Bhalla, president of cyber and intelligence at Mastercard, said in a Feb. 1 release announcing Decision Intelligence Pro: “With generative AI, we are transforming the speed and accuracy of our anti-fraud solutions, deflecting the efforts of criminals, and protecting banks and their customers.”  

Similarly, Visa released Visa Protect, designed for account-to-account payments, CEO Ryan McInerney said during Visa’s April 23 earnings call.  

“Powered by AI-based fraud detection models, this new service provides a real-time risk score that can be used to identify fraud on account-to-account payments,” he said.  

AI has been a strong area of investment for the card giants. Visa has spent more than $3 billion over the past decade on AI and data infrastructure to improve money movement and prevent fraud, Rajat Taneja, president of technology at Visa said in a Sept. 14, 2023, blog post on Visa’s website.  

Fraud ticks up

As financial services companies look to AI to prevent fraud, fraudsters are looking to AI to commit fraud, according to an April 24 release by Mastercard. 

People lost $12.4 billion to internet scams in the United States in 2023, according to the release. And Mastercard is betting on AI to bring that number down.  

Mastercard combines AI, biometric solutions and open banking capabilities to protect consumers against fraud, according to the release. 

Banks like NatWest are looking to Mastercard’s AI-powered solutions to reduce fraud within their institutions, according to the release. 

“Together with Mastercard, we are using the power of AI to identify payments to fraudsters and stop them before money is lost,” Nick Elliot, head of payment fraud at NatWest, said in the release. 

More tech moves

In addition to using AI to fight fraud, the card giants are investing in other solutions. 

In April, Visa rolled out Subscription Manager, which helps customers track how many subscriptions they are paying for through its app, according to an April 3 release. 

The tool is an addition to Visa’s Digital Enablement product suite, which provides customers with financial information, the release stated. 

Meanwhile, Mastercard launched a virtual card for travel and business expenses, allowing employers to issue cards to employees, an April 18 Mastercard release stated. 

The virtual card is “available with controls, security features, the ability to restrict that card to very specific use cases and for certain timeframes,” Chad Wallace, executive vice president of commercial solutions at Mastercard, told Bank Automation News. 

As Mastercard continues to develop solutions, it looks to clients to let the company know what features they want so Mastercard can decide what to invest in, Wallace said. 

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