Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank and the German Savings Banks Association (DSGV), the umbrella body representing Germany’s savings banks, have formed a joint venture designed to let financial institutions exchange fraud intelligence securely and within the bounds of the law.
The new company will give its clients, mainly banks and other financial firms, a shared mechanism for passing on information about fraud cases across institutional lines. The founders are positioning it as a legally sound, privacy-conscious basis for cooperation, intended to help participants spot criminal activity sooner than they can on their own.
The initiative responds to a structural weakness in how banks fight crime. Fraudsters routinely spread their activity across accounts held at several lenders and move money between them rapidly, leaving each bank with only a fragment of the full scheme. The venture’s tools aim to speed up how quickly relevant findings travel between institutions.
Its debut application targets fraud including phishing, investment scams, merchandise fraud and romance scams, and development is already well advanced. When one bank flags an account being misused, it will be able to share that finding through the platform so that peers can factor it into their own defences and act earlier against suspicious activity.
Each institution keeps full control over how it judges incoming information and what protective steps it takes.
The technology relies on cryptographic techniques such as Multi-Party Computation (MPC), which allow specific data points to be matched without participants exposing their complete datasets. Data protection, purpose limitation, data minimisation and controlled disclosure sit at the core of the design.
The shareholders see fraud prevention as the starting point. They intend to build the platform out step by step, adding further anti-fraud features alongside compliance applications.
This roadmap tracks the evolution of European regulation, where new payments rules governing information exchange between institutions to counter fraud and money laundering are expected to open the door to deeper collaboration.
Both current and future products will also be offered to other obliged entities. Each new participant enlarges the shared pool of intelligence and raises the value for everyone involved. The founders stress that the venture is meant to support, rather than replace, existing government and supervisory efforts against financial crime.
Commerzbank chief risk officer Bernd Spalt said, “Financial crime is becoming increasingly professional and does not stop at company boundaries. That is why it is right for us to work more closely together in this area and pool our experience and capabilities. Ultimately, what matters is that we identify risks earlier and effectively protect our customers.”
Deutsche Bank head of personal banking Dominik Hennen said, “Fraud can be contained more effectively when banks can securely share relevant findings with one another in a legally compliant manner. With the joint company, we are combining intelligent data use, modern technology and industry-wide cooperation. In this way, we aim to better protect our customers and set new standards in fraud prevention.”
German Savings Banks Association executive member of the board Joachim Schmalzl said, “We are putting fraud prevention on a broader footing and opening up the collaboration to other banks as well. After all, security in payments is not a matter of competition but a shared responsibility of the banking industry.”
Copyright © 2026 RegTech Analyst
Copyright © 2026 RegTech Analyst
