Asia-Pacific rules push banks and payment apps to cover scam losses

Regulators across Asia-Pacific are shifting the burden of scams onto the companies that move your money. Digital banks, fintech apps and payment firms are being told to stop scams early and to act fast when one happens. Experts at a recent Regulation Asia webinar said the focus is moving from having policies on paper to showing results.

What changed

Regulators are no longer just checking that a firm has a scam policy. They now look at whether the firm could have prevented a scam and what it did once it spotted one. Speed of response counts. Panelists said newer firms must generally meet the same strict duties as traditional banks, often with smaller budgets and smaller compliance teams.

Two rules to know

In the Philippines, a 2024 law called the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act set the tone. The central bank has since issued circulars to carry it out. They cover stronger technology and fraud controls, ways to share information, and a framework for temporarily holding disputed funds.

In Australia, the industry is preparing for the Scam Prevention Framework. It allows fines of up to AUD 50 million. For now it places duties on banks, phone companies and social media platforms to prevent, detect and disrupt scams. The payments body AusPayNet wants dating sites, online marketplaces, virtual asset providers and the wider payments industry added.

How firms are responding

Speakers said fraud teams and anti-money-laundering teams should share the same information. That does not mean merging them. One speaker put it this way: fraud sees the scam, while the other team sees where the money goes.

Checking merchants before they join a payment system also matters. Catherine Liu of Global Payments said the biggest risk is often the merchant a firm thinks it knows. Her firm uses real-time screening that looks at things like typing speed at checkout, along with hundreds of thousands of behavior rules.

What it means for you

If you use newer banking or payment apps, expect more checks. Some suspect transfers may be held while a firm looks into them, as the Philippine framework allows. Business owners may notice firms asking more questions at sign-up.

No single tool solves the problem. Australia's confirmation of payee service, which checks that a name matches an account, has built trust. Still, an AusPayNet speaker said it is not a silver bullet against redirected payments and business email scams, which rely on tricking people.

What is not clear yet

Australia has not yet extended its rules to the payments industry as a whole, and AusPayNet is still pushing for that. The material also does not say how much customers will be reimbursed in each country.