Visa Adopts AI Technology to Combat Fraud

Visa has introduced a new fraud detection platform powered by AI, marking another step in its ongoing investment in AI and innovation.

The new system, known as the ARIC Risk Hub, uses adaptive AI to analyse banking transactions and spot suspicious activity in real time.

Built by Featurespace – a company Visa has recently acquired – the platform aims to tackle financial crime by profiling what genuine customer behaviour looks like, then flagging anything that deviates.

Featurespace, which began as a machine learning research project at Cambridge University, focuses exclusively on financial services.

Its technology supports an open ecosystem, meaning that banks and other institutions can use it beyond Visa’s payment network.

This opens the door for AI-powered fraud prevention to be integrated across a bank’s entire payment system, from mobile banking to card transactions.

The use of artificial intelligence in fraud detection marks a shift from static rules to dynamic learning.

Where older systems rely on fixed rules that must be constantly updated, adaptive AI continuously refines its understanding of fraud based on real-world data.

As it observes new transactions, it becomes more precise, adjusting to new fraud patterns without manual intervention.

AI rollout shows impact in Norway

The new technology is already proving effective.

In Norway, the Eika Group – a network of 46 local banks – has deployed ARIC Risk Hub and reported a 90% reduction in phishing losses between 2023 and 2024.

Phishing, a common fraud method where criminals impersonate legitimate contacts to extract personal information, has been a growing issue in the country.

Eika had been facing a rise in phishing scams that primarily targeted older customers.

On top of that, increasingly complex fraud patterns were slipping past older detection systems, while the need for manual transaction reviews was putting additional strain on staff. The new AI-driven platform provided a response to all three challenges.

Jon Hagen, Chief Architect at Eika, describes how the system works: “Featurespace's AI-powered technology learns and adapts in real time, and profiles normal user behaviour in an efficient manner.

“As fraud patterns evolve, we will need to add more rules and maybe adjust some of the old ones. Adjustment of the rules is easy, given the powerful support of the Featurespace system.”

Each transaction processed through online or mobile banking is evaluated by the AI system as it happens. Suspicious activity is either flagged for human investigation or blocked outright. Importantly, the platform creates a unique baseline profile for every customer, which helps reduce false positives—cases where genuine transactions are wrongly flagged as fraud. This improves the overall customer experience and lowers operational costs for banks.

Visa deepens AI investment for global rollout

Visa sees this AI platform as part of a wider expansion of its value-added services.

According to Antony Cahill, President of Value-Added Services at Visa, fraud prevention is central to helping businesses thrive in the digital world: "Accepting a payment is a fundamental need of any business.

“Leveraging new technology to accept payments more efficiently and securely can be what sets a business apart in today's rapidly digitalising world.

“With our new services, we're helping businesses harness data-driven insights, simplify the checkout experience and fight fraud more effectively than ever.”

The ARIC Risk Hub is now available globally.

Financial institutions of all sizes can adopt the AI-powered system to safeguard against phishing, social engineering scams and other fraud threats.

The platform’s ability to work across different payment methods ensures flexibility for integration in diverse banking environments.

Tareq Muhmood, Head of Value-Added Services, Europe at Visa, says: “We are thrilled to be integrating ARIC Risk Hub into our offer to businesses and financial institutions.

“We have been using AI for over 30 years to fight fraud, and now by integrating behavioural data with ARIC's cutting-edge technology we will further help our clients to stay ahead of emerging threats.”

Visa’s move reflects a broader trend in financial services, where AI and machine learning are increasingly used to solve security and risk challenges.

As fraud methods grow more advanced, Visa’s adaptive technology stands as a signal that financial protection now relies on real-time intelligence and behavioural understanding—not just rules and checklists.

Explore the latest edition of AI Magazine and be part of the conversation at our global conference series, Tech & AI LIVE. 

Discover all our upcoming events and secure your tickets today. 

AI Magazine is a BizClik brand