47% of UK banks expect rise in AI-initiated payment fraud

Finextra, in partnership with NICE Actimize, surveyed 203 fraud professionals at European banks in March 2026 and published the European Fraud Insights 2026 report. The survey found that 47% of UK banks in the sample expect significant growth in AI‑initiated payment fraud.

Respondents came from banks across DACH, Benelux, the UK, the Nordics, Central and Eastern Europe, and Southern Europe. The research shows fraud is increasingly viewed as a threat to customer trust and operational resilience, not only as a direct financial loss. Nearly half of UK banks reported expecting a substantial increase in AI‑driven payment attacks.

Teams reported variation in priorities and maturity by region. Customer attrition or erosion of trust ranked ahead of direct financial losses as the most significant impact of fraud. Banks also identified data quality and limited access to data as the main constraints on improving fraud prevention.

Most institutions expressed some confidence in their near‑term fraud capabilities: 97% described themselves as at least somewhat confident, while 35% said they were very confident. Respondents pointed to the complexity of integrating new AI models with existing fraud platforms and organisational silos that fragment data as the greatest obstacles to wider AI adoption.

The survey found 80% of institutions are planning or already executing consolidation of multiple fraud risk engines into a single platform. Banks indicated that upcoming investment will focus on real‑time authentication and continuous monitoring to detect and block fraud earlier in the customer journey rather than relying on point‑in‑time detection.

Henna Cheema, research analyst at Finextra, noted that fraud prevention is shifting away from a balance‑sheet focus and that banks are moving from point‑in‑time controls and detection‑led approaches to real‑time authentication and monitoring. Anurag Mohapatra, director of product marketing and strategy at NICE Actimize, highlighted AI‑initiated payment fraud as the fastest‑growing threat and pointed to data fragmentation and organisational silos as the main barriers to seeing the full fraud picture.

The report is available to download from Finextra. The publisher also listed a related industry event, NextGen FinCrime, scheduled for 8 July 2026 in London where practitioners and vendors will discuss emerging threats and prevention strategies.