Ghaffour targets fraud-alert pilot for first half of 2027
Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia), said selected banks will pilot pre-transaction fraud alerts in the first half of 2027. He spoke in Kuala Lumpur on October 6, 2026.
Alerts before money moves
The banking industry and PayNet are developing industry-wide alerts to warn banks and customers before potentially fraudulent transactions are completed.
Ghaffour acknowledged added friction but stressed protection against authorised scams.
Since October 2025, the National Fraud Portal has piloted payment-network analysis; PayNet has flagged more than 1,600 suspicious accounts.
Revised Risk Management in Technology rules and the Financial Institutions' Response to Fraud policy reinforce resilience and accountability.
The financial sector prevented approximately RM1.9 billion in attempted fraud in the first half of 2026, exceeding RM1.2 billion for all of 2025.
Malaysia also recovered more than RM37 billion in assets over the past five years.
Faster fraud meets fragmented cooperation
About 95 percent of online fraud cases involve victims deceived into transferring funds themselves.
INTERPOL estimates AI-enabled fraud is 4.5 times more profitable than traditional methods.
Ghaffour urged geopolitical risk assessments and stronger domestic and international information sharing.
Malaysia marks 25 years since its 2001 anti-money-laundering law, AMLA.
Five national risk assessments and oversight of more than 27,000 reporting institutions underpin its framework, which received positive recognition in the December 2025 Mutual Evaluation.
Prevention over compliance
Ghaffour placed prevention ahead of detecting suspicious activity after the event.
His proposed alerts make customer protection, rather than transaction convenience alone, the operational priority.
He framed success as preserving trust and preventing harm, not merely meeting compliance standards.