European banks confront rising fraud complexity

A Finextra survey of 200 European fraud leaders, carried out in association with NICE Actimize, finds banks facing increased fraud complexity across channels and investing in artificial intelligence while struggling with integration challenges.

Respondents identified traditional threats such as card abuse and account takeover alongside newer concerns for 2026: payments initiated or assisted by automated or AI tools and scams tied to virtual assets. The survey was presented ahead of a Finextra webinar hosted with NICE Actimize and moderated by Finextra researcher Sharon Kimathi.

Bank leaders report plans to expand detection and response capabilities using machine learning and other AI tools. Institutions expect these technologies to help detect complex patterns across channels, reduce false positives and scale monitoring as transaction volumes and fraud tactics grow. The survey notes, however, that many organisations face hurdles in deploying these tools quickly and effectively.

Integration issues highlighted include fitting new analytics into legacy IT systems and combining data from multiple business lines to generate reliable, near-real-time signals. Those barriers are slowing the rollout of AI-driven controls across payments, online banking and virtual-asset services, creating a gap between planned investment and operational impact for some firms.

The survey also found uneven capacity across European markets. Differences in funding, technical expertise and access to advanced tools mean some banks can adopt AI faster, while others continue to rely on rule-based systems and manual review. The variation affects the consistency of fraud defenses across the region and informs priorities for regulators and industry partners.

Planned investments concentrate on improving transaction monitoring, expanding behavioral analytics and integrating cross-channel intelligence to connect suspicious activity across cards, accounts and emerging payment flows. Many institutions are prioritising partnerships with third-party vendors that provide specialist models and managed detection services to speed deployment.

Respondents emphasised that technology deployment requires data consolidation, changes to processes and training for staff to interpret model outputs. Several noted the need for clearer escalation playbooks and incident-response procedures when new fraud patterns are detected.

The Finextra and NICE Actimize webinar brings together industry experts to review the survey findings and discuss which controls have been effective in practice, how to address integration bottlenecks and how to close gaps in expertise and funding across markets. The survey frames 2026 as a year in which the balance between adopting advanced detection tools and resolving practical deployment issues will be a central focus for European banks.