Major banks and telecoms launch shared fraud intelligence platform

Canada's largest banks and telecommunications firms have created a system to share information about criminals who attempt to defraud customers and institutions. The new platform, called the Cross-Sector Anti-Fraud Exchange or CSAFE, will be managed by EnStream LP, a company owned by the country's three biggest wireless carriers. Its purpose is to stop fraudsters from successfully targeting multiple organizations in sequence. This industry-led effort aims to address scams that drain hundreds of millions of dollars from the economy each year.

The project started as a test between Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Rogers Communications. It has since expanded to include Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, National Bank of Canada and Desjardins. Bell Canada and Telus are also part of the initiative. EnStream president and CEO Upinder Saini said the collaboration was prompted by seeing the same criminals attack different companies.

"The goal is, let's eliminate or minimize that repeat fraud across organizations," Saini said. Member companies will contribute details about confirmed fraud cases to the platform. Other participants can then check this intelligence when they are verifying a new customer or processing a transaction. "Whether they are onboarding somebody or they are authenticating somebody, or there are some transactions that their customer is conducting, they could check with the platform if a particular incident is known to the exchange," Saini explained.

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Saini stated the system follows Canadian privacy laws because it only shares data on confirmed fraudsters, not information about victims. The launch comes as fraud losses reported to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre reached $351 million in the first half of this year. Officials estimate that only five to ten percent of frauds are actually reported, meaning the real total is far greater. Much of this crime is linked to international organized groups.

The federal government recently finished consultations on a national strategy to fight fraud, indicating support for a cross-sector approach. Saini expressed hope that CSAFE will grow to include other industries like digital platforms. "The plan is that we will continue to grow and welcome additional participants," he said. A separate coalition called the Canadian Anti-Scam Coalition also brings together tech companies, banks, telecoms and government agencies. That broader coalition, which includes Google and Meta, was formed last year under the leadership of Canadian Bankers Association president Anthony Ostler. The new CSAFE platform provides a more direct channel for financial and telecom firms to share specific threat intelligence. Its official launch was announced on Wednesday.

With files from The Globe and Mail