Visa has updated its Singapore Security Roadmap, outlining six foundational priorities that span cybersecurity, authentication, tokenisation, online checkout, payment network standards, and fraud prevention. The framework sets out a coordinated strategy to protect consumers and enterprises across both card transactions and account-to-account payment systems.
This 2026 update arrives in direct response to the sophisticated deployment of artificial intelligence, automation, and social engineering techniques in payment fraud. To counteract these evolving schemes, the payment technology provider is broadening its security footprint while urging deeper alignment across the entire digital ecosystem. This collective push calls for heightened coordination among financial institutions, regulators, merchants, fintech innovators, and other payment industry participants to safeguard transaction environments.
AI is changing how payment fraud is carried out
A noticeable transformation is taking place in the nature of financial crime, with fraud shifting towards authorised payment scams in which criminals manipulate victims into directly approving fraudulent transactions. Artificial intelligence and automated tools allow bad actors to customise these deceptive approaches with remarkable precision and execute them at unprecedented volume. This mechanised manipulation presents a distinct challenge because the payments appear legitimate to standard verification checks when initiated by the account holders themselves.
Local consumer sentiment illustrates the complex environment in which these attacks occur. According to a Visa-commissioned study, close to seven in 10 Singapore residents maintain trust in digital payments, yet 42% have encountered scams and 8% reported losing money to fraudulent schemes.
Connecting the revised roadmap to these broader developments across digital commerce and illicit methods, Adeline Kim, Group Country Manager for Regional Southeast Asia & SVP, Global Clients, Asia Pacific at Visa, emphasised the essential balance between technical progress and ecosystem trust. In sharing the perspective behind the updated framework, she highlighted how maintaining consumer confidence remains critical as emerging technologies reshape transactions.
“Trust underpins every digital payment experience and maintaining the confidence for consumers and businesses is critical as Singapore’s digital economy continues to grow. As AI transforms commerce and creates new opportunities, it also raises the stakes in the fight against fraud and scams. Since launching our Singapore Security Roadmap in 2019, we have worked closely with industry partners to advance capabilities such as risk-based authentication and tokenisation, helping make payments safer and more seamless. This updated roadmap reflects the evolving threat landscape and reinforces our commitment to investing in the technology, intelligence and partnerships needed to stay ahead of emerging risks. By working together across the ecosystem, we can enable innovation, strengthen resilience, and ensure consumers and businesses continue to participate in the digital economy with confidence.”
Six areas form the updated security plan
The refreshed framework begins with foundational cybersecurity and advanced authentication, which are paired with the wider adoption of tokenisation to conceal sensitive payment credentials. These baseline safeguards ensure that underlying account data remains protected even if transaction channels face compromise.
Building on this technical layer, Visa is actively refining the online checkout experience to boost everyday convenience and consumer confidence, supported by rigorous payment network standards and risk programmes that elevate defensive performance. The final focus area tackles fraud and scam mitigation directly, acknowledging that machine learning now powers both criminal schemes and modern financial defences. Within this contested environment, the company is directing capital into passkeys, biometric authentication, tokenisation, and automated threat detection tools to stop attacks before they cause financial harm.
On an operational level, the firm currently deploys more than 150 artificial intelligence and machine learning models across the globe to intercept suspicious activity and safeguard digital transactions. These protective capabilities are applied comprehensively across both card networks and account-to-account payment environments.
Fraud prevention depends on coordination across the industry
Effective defence against modern scam activity ultimately requires extensive collaboration across institutional boundaries rather than standalone corporate initiatives. To achieve this, Visa intends to work closely with regulators, financial institutions, merchants, fintech firms, and ecosystem partners to bolster shared cyber resilience, broaden the exchange of fraud intelligence, and speed up the deployment of resilient payment technologies across the market.
This requirement for cross-sector solidarity is shared across the wider anti-fraud community. Brian D. Hanley, APAC Director at the Global Anti-Scam Alliance, similarly pointed to the critical need for structured coordination between the public and private sectors in meeting these emerging threats.
“Scams and fraud continue to evolve at an unprecedented pace, making collaboration across industry, government, and the private sector more important than ever. Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA) welcomes Visa’s Singapore Security Roadmap and its commitment to advancing collective action, innovation and intelligence sharing to strengthen trust and resilience across Singapore’s digital payments ecosystem.”
