SINGAPORE, March 7 – Mastercard has introduced TRACE (Trace Financial Crime) in Asia Pacific, a cutting-edge AI-powered solution designed to combat money laundering and financial crime within real-time payment (RTP) networks. By leveraging network-wide payments data from multiple financial institutions, TRACE provides a comprehensive intelligence framework that enables banks to detect and trace suspicious transactions beyond their internal monitoring capabilities.
The Philippines is the first market in Asia Pacific to implement TRACE, following its initial launch in the United Kingdom. Mastercard collaborated with BancNet, the operator of the Philippines’ RTP service InstaPay, to deploy TRACE, onboarding 36 domestic banks. This initiative enhances compliance with the country’s Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA) by identifying money mule activity and tracking illicit fund movements.
Matthew Driver, Executive Vice President of Mastercard Asia Pacific, emphasized that TRACE strengthens the security of real-time payments, fostering trust in the digital economy. As scams grow more sophisticated, this solution is poised to transform financial crime prevention, with Mastercard seeking further expansion across the region.
