Mastercard has introduced its anti-money laundering service, TRACE, in the APAC region, starting with the Philippines.
The AI-powered solution, designed to track illicit financial activities within payment networks, is being deployed in the country’s real-time payments system, making it the second market to implement TRACE after the United Kingdom.
TRACE uses artificial intelligence and advanced data science to detect suspicious transaction patterns across a network.
Unlike traditional monitoring systems that rely on individual banks’ data, TRACE provides a broader perspective, helping financial institutions track funds linked to money laundering and financial crime more effectively.
The system is network-agnostic, allowing for quick deployment across different payment infrastructures.
The rise of real-time payments in APAC has accelerated transactions but also created vulnerabilities, with criminals using rapid fund transfers to evade detection.
Financial institutions have typically relied on in-house solutions, but these often lack the ability to trace illicit activity across multiple banks.
TRACE addresses this gap by proactively identifying fraudulent patterns and alerting banks about suspicious accounts.
In the Philippines, TRACE has been integrated into the local interbank network, BancNet, which operates the country’s real-time payment service InstaPay.
So far, 36 domestic banks have joined the initiative.
The system helps financial institutions track illicit funds, detect money mule activity, and comply with the country’s Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA).
The United Kingdom was the first to implement TRACE in 2018.
It is now used by 21 financial institutions, including tier-one banks, covering 90% of the country’s Faster Payments Service network.
Mastercard says the system has helped identify thousands of mule accounts and continues to uncover hundreds of new ones each month.
“By ensuring that transactions remain secure and compliant, TRACE helps to protect consumers and financial institutions, while also fostering trust in the digital economy—which will be critical for the region’s economic growth.
Mastercard is proud to have collaborated with BancNet on its pilot rollout in the Philippines and is ready to collaborate with other stakeholders across the region to implement TRACE to create a stronger, more resilient global financial system.”
said Matthew Driver, Executive Vice President, Services, APAC, Mastercard.
“As scams grow more sophisticated, advanced tech-powered prevention and monitoring capabilities are critical.
Our partnership with Mastercard and leveraging TRACE gives us and the network participants the intelligence to help detect fraud faster, making scam prevention sharper and more effective,”
said Emmie Reyes, Chief Executive Officer, BancNet.
Featured image credit: Edited from Freepik
