FNA and Proto’s Breakthrough Anti-Scam Centre Solution announced as the Winner at G20 TechSprint
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub have announced FNA and Proto as winners of the G20 TechSprint 2025 Competition. Their joint submission, “Trust at Speed: A National Utility for Scam Reporting and Fund Tracing,” was selected as a top solution in the fraud and cyber risks category, which called for solutions to safeguard fast payment systems amid rising global financial crime.
The 2025 edition of the G20 TechSprint attracted 165 companies worldwide, with only fifteen finalists shortlisted across three challenge categories. The theme this year focused on advancing trust and integrity in scalable and open finance, and recognised solutions capable of delivering systemic impact across borders.
In recent years, global financial inclusion initiatives have rapidly expanded instant payment systems to underserved populations. While these systems drive economic participation, they have also created new vulnerabilities, particularly for first-time users of digital finance. The Global Anti-Scam Alliance estimates that $1 trillion is stolen annually due to industrial-scale scams, with recovery rates in many low- and middle-income countries remaining below 1%.
In the critical hours following a scam, transnational criminal networks often move funds across borders, withdraw them in cash, or convert them to crypto, making consumer reporting speed and institutional coordination essential to disrupting the activity of fraudsters and recovering funds for victims.
FNA and Proto’s winning Anti-Scam Centre solution integrates:
Proto’s multilingual, AI-driven citizen communication infrastructure
FNA’s Money Trails, a real-time fund tracing and freezing platform
Together, the platform enables victims to discreetly report scams in their local language, while regulators and financial institutions gain the ability to trace, freeze, and recover stolen funds within seconds. This unified, reporting-to-recovery pipeline transforms fragmented responses into a national-level utility for coordinated intervention.
Dr Kimmo Soramäki, CEO of FNA, said:
“This award from the G20 TechSprint reflects the growing global recognition that financial scams are both a systemic and human challenge. The joint solution from FNA and Proto helps regulators and banks act at speed, protecting consumers and strengthening trust across the financial system.”
Curtis Matlock, CEO of Proto, said:
“The global scam problem is becoming even more complicated with criminal use of AI. It is contingent on regulators and innovators to swiftly collaborate and deploy integrated consumer protection systems that reach and serve the most vulnerable citizens. The Proto and FNA collaboration is an example of how the positive use of AI can provide a critical line of defence for regulators.”
When deployed as a national utility by jurisdictions, the Anti-Scam Centre provides the following key capabilities to central banks, law enforcement, and financial intelligence units:
Inclusive Reporting: Victims can report scams through familiar messaging channels in languages such as Cebuano and Kinyarwanda, lowering barriers created by embarrassment, fear, or unclear reporting processes.
Real-Time Tracing: FNA’s Money Trails traces illicit flows across multiple institutions within seconds to identify mule accounts, trace the movement of funds, and support rapid recovery.
Cross-Agency Collaboration: Regulators, banks, and law enforcement access a unified operational view, improving transparency and accelerating coordinated investigations.
Proven Deployments and Real-World Impact
FNA and Proto’s integrated approach builds on large-scale national implementations:
In Malaysia, FNA’s Money Trails powers the National Fraud Portal, enabling investigators to reduce investigation times by 75%, from hours to just 30 minutes, and increasing recovery effectiveness compared to legacy methods
In the Philippines, Proto’s AI consumer protection platform has facilitated over 14 million interactions, making fraud reporting accessible across diverse local languages.
Both companies are expanding deployments in Indonesia, Namibia, and Rwanda, where rapidly growing digital finance adoption exposes new users to sophisticated scam tactics. By accelerating victim reporting and institutional response, the solution strengthens public trust- an essential foundation for financial inclusion and digital economic resilience.
FNA is a leading analytics and simulation firm specialising in financial network mapping, stress testing, liquidity and payments optimization, and fraud detection. Trusted by central banks, regulators, financial market infrastructures, and national security organisations globally, FNA helps institutions visualise and analyse complex transaction networks in real time. Its flagship solutions—including the National Fraud Portal and Money Trails—enable authorities to trace illicit fund flows and respond to scams with unprecedented speed and precision.
Proto is a leading provider of secure, localised AI solutions for emerging markets. The company supports governments and regulated industries with inclusive digital communication platforms for transaction support, citizen engagement, and anti-scam centres. Proto’s proprietary language AI provides an unmatched understanding of local and mixed languages across underserved communities. Headquartered in Canada, Proto operates regional offices in the Philippines and Rwanda, with clients including central banks, remittance services, and hospitals operating under SOC2, ISO27001, and HIPAA compliance.
