SwiftPay, the enterprise payments unit of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas-regulated (BSP) Swift Technology Ventures Inc., launched a real-time fraud detection platform to help local lenders comply with stricter digital security mandates amid rising financial scams.

The platform, called SwiftGuard, arrives as the Philippines tightens oversight on digital financial accounts. More than 60 percent of Filipino adults face financial scams annually, according to industry data. E-wallets account for 74 percent of illicit transaction channels, followed by wire and bank transfers at 14 percent.

Under the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act and BSP Circular No. 1213, banks and BSP-supervised financial institutions must implement continuous fraud management systems capable of evaluating transactions instantly.

The regulations mandate monitoring across five parameters: transaction velocity, account detail changes, geolocation, blacklist screening, and behavioral anomalies. Institutions that fail to maintain adequate risk controls face potential liability for restitution of lost funds.

SwiftGuard acts as an intermediary decisioning layer that reviews transactions across those parameters, returning a decision to allow, hold, block, or require step-up verification.

The institution's underlying core banking system retains final execution authority. The system operates on a software-as-a-service model using standard application programming interfaces, allowing deployment without replacing existing core infrastructure.

“This regulatory shift makes clear that compliance cannot be treated as a one-time technology project,” Pawel Jedruch, head of technology at SwiftPay, said in a statement. “Financial institutions need controls that keep learning, adapting, and producing evidence as fraud tactics evolve.”

The system includes more than 40 adjustable rules, anti-money laundering tools, tamper-evident audit logs, and case-export features for regulatory reviews. BSP Circular No. 1213 extends operational responsibility across the payment chain, including third-party service providers and clearing switch operators.

SwiftGuard is operating live at institutions including VBank, Netbank, and AgriBank. The tool is also natively integrated into the Nextbank core banking and mobile platform, enabling plug-and-play adoption for institutions on that network.

“The next phase of digital finance growth will be determined by trust,” Damian Gil, chief revenue officer at SwiftPay, said. “Financial institutions that can make sound decisions as money moves will be better positioned to protect customers and scale.”