To support banks and deliver the payment protection consumers expect, Mastercard unveils Mastercard A2A Protect, a new global service launching first in the UK. By combining cutting-edge fraud prevention technology and a new clear dispute resolution framework, Mastercard A2A Protect will enable banks to provide consumers with the appropriate levels of protection against fraudsters. Mastercard A2A Protect will initially focus on the most acute needs, such as Authorised Push Payment fraud, providing a combination of preventative measures, consumer protections and a process to recover funds. Subsequent phases will establish a process for recovering funds across a broader range of scenarios, including where goods and services have been paid for. Ultimately, the service intends to support participating bank customers before, during, and after each transaction, by: Preventing fraud: 1. Enhancing CFR’s transaction scoring capabilities and helping to identify more high-risk transactions, complementing banks’ own efforts 2. Leveraging Trace, a Mastercard solution which harnesses AI and network data insights to prevent money laundering and financial crime, and supports banks to identify and close ‘mule’ accounts 3. Delivering an industry-wide standardised fraud and loss reporting mechanism, which will provide banks with richer fraud insights Protecting consumers: 4. Providing banks with a simple framework and comprehensive set of multilateral standards to drive best practice and safeguard consumers. Efficiently addressing transactional and fraud protection issues, as well as goods and services protection issues, where relevant for consumers. Recovery of funds: 5. Introducing a uniform procedure for banks to resolve disputes and recover funds, across multiple use cases via Mastercard’s existing centralised platform, reducing costs and speeding up resolution