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NewsBriefs

serving as the 2026 board president of PTW and partici- Visa said the need for modern authorization systems is
pating in the Electronic Transactions Association's Pay- growing as digital payments evolve. Digital wallets, sta-
ment Facilitator Committee. Lori Griboski of Paysafe has blecoins and new forms of commerce are increasing the
strengthened merchant partnerships across international volume and complexity of payment transactions.
markets, reflecting the increasingly global nature of mer-
chant acquiring. Research commissioned by Visa and conducted by You-
Gov highlights the shift. In Asia-Pacific markets, 74 per-
Industry advocacy and policy leadership are also repre- cent of consumers already use AI-powered tools during
sented. Jodie Kelley, CEO of the Electronic Transactions shopping journeys, accelerating transaction speeds and
Association, represents the electronic payments sector in increasing the data involved in payments. Visa said the
regulatory discussions, promoting policies that support new capability provides a scalable foundation for acquir-
innovation while protecting data security. ers as payment ecosystems become more real-time and
data-driven.
Entrepreneurs and strategists continue to influence the
direction of the industry. Donna Embry of e-Squared Sys- Report finds FIs struggle to keep
tems, Diane Vogt Faro of Savify, Garima Shah of Biller Ge- pace with AI-driven fraud
nie and Paulette Rowe, formerly CEO of Stax Payments,
exemplify leadership in merchant services, payments in- Financial institutions increasingly view artificial intelli-
novation and business strategy. gence-driven fraud as a major threat, yet many lack the
infrastructure needed to defend against it, according to
Other female leaders shape the industry through commu- research from fraud and risk management platform Data-
nications, legal expertise and talent development. Peggy Visor.
Olsen of Strategic Marketing, Holli Hart Targan of Taft
Law, Viktoria Soltesz of PSP Angels and Polly Van Duser In its 2026 Fraud & AML Executive Report, DataVisor identi-
of One Inc. have helped strengthen industry standards, fies what it calls an "AI Readiness Gap," a disconnect be-
compliance and workforce development. tween the sophistication of fraud attacks and the capabili-
ties institutions have to counter them.
Visa unveils single API designed
to modernize authorization The report surveyed fraud and anti-money-laundering
(AML) leaders at banks, credit unions, fintech companies
Visa introduced a new capability on the Visa Acceptance and digital payments platforms. Among respondents, 74
Platform aimed at helping acquirers and their process- percent said AI-driven fraud is a top concern, while 67
ing partners modernize payment authorization through percent reported their organizations lack the infrastruc-
a single API connection. The offering, called Visa Intel- ture needed to deploy effective AI defenses.
ligent Authorization, is designed to reduce the infrastruc-
ture complexity that often slows innovation in digital pay- Generative AI is enabling new forms of fraud, including
ments. deepfakes, synthetic identities and automated scam cam-
Authorization determines whether a transaction should paigns. Many institutions remain constrained by frag-
be approved or declined. Many legacy processing systems mented data systems, legacy detection models and gover-
struggle to handle newer payment types and evolving nance structures not designed for real-time threats.
transaction patterns, which can contribute to false de-
clines, higher costs and slower innovation. "Financial institutions are facing attackers that operate at
machine speed, but many defenses still operate at legacy
Visa Intelligent Authorization is designed to enable trans- operational speed," said Yinglian Xie, CEO and co-founder
actions across major card networks through one API in- of DataVisor. She said closing the readiness gap will re-
tegration, eliminating the need for multiple network con- quire unified data and operational models capable of real-
nections or costly infrastructure upgrades. Visa said the time response.
system delivers 99.999 percent uptime and achieves a glob-
al average approval rate of 96.3 percent. The report cites legacy infrastructure, organizational silos
and outdated operating models as barriers slowing insti-
Acquirers can deploy the solution as a primary processing tutions' ability to respond to evolving fraud tactics.
engine or as a complementary tool that extends existing
authorization capabilities. Still, many organizations are moving to modernize their
approaches. Eighty-one percent of institutions said they
The platform's machine-learning engine analyzes transac- are considering or implementing unified fraud and AML
tion data in real time to help determine optimal routing strategies, while 74 percent said a single view of risk
decisions based on network rules, industry programs and would improve detection effectiveness. The report notes
regional regulatory requirements. It also provides instant that real-time payments and faster digital onboarding are
risk alerts and a centralized management portal with ana- shrinking the window for detecting fraud.
lytics tools to improve oversight and compliance.
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