Banco Santander, BBVA and CaixaBank join forces to fight financial fraud and create FrauDfense

The banks have set up a company that will see the Spanish lenders share data that will help tackle financial crime. After the initial phase, the alliance will consider adding other banks and companies to increase its scope.

„Banco Santander, BBVA and CaixaBank have joined forces to fight one of the biggest challenges in banking: financial fraud. They are working on tools to exchange important information and data that will help prevent financial crime.” according to the press release.

The banks have created FrauDfense, a company that will bring together anti-fraud initiatives from the banks. FrauDfense has been presented to the appropriate supervisory and regulatory authorities. 

The alliance will first develop a tool to share information on fraudulent practices and effective response measures. The tool will keep information private and secure.

A common goal

The alliance will fight fraud, which can take many sophisticated forms, such as new account fraud (where customers’ identities are stolen to buy products), online fraud and card payments.

FrauDfense, an ambitious link-up that will start in Spain, is far from a closed book. Banks and companies from other industries interested in exchanging information on fraud to protect customers, entities and broader society will also be able to join.

Carlos Requena will be FrauDfense’s CEO. The board of directors will comprise two representatives of each bank: Carles Solé Pascual, chief information security officer (CISO), Santander España; Daniel Barriuso, group chief transformation officer, Banco Santander; Natalia Ortega, global head of Financial Crime Prevention, BBVA; Sergio Fidalgo, group chief security officer, BBVA; Sofia Karapatsiou, director of Governance and Fraud Control, CaixaBank, and Lorenzo Malo, CISO, CaixaBank. BBVA’s Natalia Ortega will be FrauDfense’s first chair, a role that will rotate every two years between the three member banks.