.svg)
The Swiss Bankers Association (SBA), in partnership with several major Swiss banks, has released a new set of recommended measures aimed at strengthening collaborative fraud prevention in the country's account-to-account payments ecosystem.
The recommendations come amid growing concern over the rise of phishing attacks, identity theft and AI-driven scams affecting consumers and businesses alike.
Backed by research conducted between August 2024 and March 2025, the preliminary study, developed with the support of management consultancy Acrea, highlights three priority areas for action: a unified public awareness campaign; a network-level risk scoring system; and enhanced cross-industry knowledge-sharing on fraud trends.
At the heart of the SBA’s proposals is a nationwide public awareness campaign branded "PayAttent!on". This is aimed at educating the Swiss public and small businesses about fraud.
The initiative is intended to align the messaging of financial institutions, public authorities and digital platform providers in a bid to amplify its reach and effectiveness.
The campaign is scheduled to launch in 2026 and will be governed by an independent consortium of public-private actors, including banks, regulators, law enforcement and private-sector partners.
The SBA is also calling for further exploration into a centralised risk scoring service, which would allow banks to assess transaction risks in real time using machine learning. This service would analyse patterns across multiple institutions, potentially flagging suspicious activity that individual banks might miss.
The Swiss Interbank Clearing (SIC) system is seen as the natural host for this service, and the Swiss National Bank has expressed support for an in-depth feasibility assessment.
The SBA also proposed the creation of specialised forums bringing together fraud experts across sectors, including telecommunications, marketplaces and social media, to share intelligence and best practices, recognising how interconnected fraudulent activity is.
Although Switzerland already boasts a range of fraud prevention networks, the study identified untapped potential for deeper collaboration and alignment, as scams increasingly originate outside the banking system.
The report highlights the growing sophistication of fraudsters, particularly those using AI technologies like deepfakes and synthetic identities.
According to the SBA, Switzerland, alongside the United States and Denmark, has reported some of the highest per-capita financial losses from scams, which the bank association says makes the situation even more urgent.
The SBA’s report emphasises the need to move beyond siloed efforts and adopt a networked approach to tackling fraud. Referencing the Bank for International Settlements’ “Project Aurora”, the report underscores the global momentum toward collaborative models in financial crime prevention. This is also the case in countries and jurisdictions such as Hong Kong and Singapore.
“It takes a network to beat a network,” the SBA notes in its conclusion.
