FNA and Proto partner to bring an anti-scam Trust Layer to Pakistan
The partnership combines Proto’s local-language AI agents for grievance intake and resolution with FNA’s real-time fund tracing, in one of the largest and most complex instant payment markets in the world.
London, 14th October 2026: FNA and Proto are partnering to deploy an integrated anti-scam and consumer redress capability for Pakistan. It pairs Proto’s AI agents, which take and resolve complaints in local languages, with FNA’s technology for tracing stolen funds in real time.
An effective response to authorised payment fraud has two halves: reaching the citizen and following the money. The partnership brings both together in a single Trust Layer built for Pakistan’s instant payment market.
The collaboration builds on a joint track record:
2025: Proto and FNA won the cybercrime and fraud mitigation award at the Bank for International Settlements’ G20 TechSprint for their joint anti-scam centre solution.
2026: A consortium including Proto, FNA, the National Bank of Rwanda, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), and the University of Manchester won the AI-driven fraud and scams category at the C:>DIR Global ‘Agentic Regulator’ Hackathon in Cambridge. The consortium applied the same fund-tracing and grievance-redress model to Rwanda’s eKash payment rail.
Pakistan’s scale makes a Trust Layer urgent
Pakistan has 240 million citizens and loses an estimated US$9.3 billion a year to scams, around 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) (Global Anti-Scam Alliance, Global State of Scams 2025). The country runs two instant payment systems: Raast, operated by the State Bank of Pakistan, and the 1LINK switch. Government-to-person payments already run at population scale. Raast now pays nine million beneficiaries of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), many of them first-time digital users who are especially exposed to fraud.
High volumes, multiple payment rails, and a large group of vulnerable consumers make Pakistan a demanding environment. That also makes it a strong test for a model designed to be repeated in other developing markets with instant payment systems.
“21% of complaints intake across Proto’s regulatory AI agents are fraud and scams,” said Curtis Matlock, CEO of Proto. “This partnership with FNA is an exciting combination of technology — enabling us to get money back to victims at speed.”
How the Trust Layer works
Proto’s technology enables redress. Citizens can report a scam at no cost through messaging apps, SMS, or voice, in Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Balochi, Saraiki, or Pashto. Proto’s AI resolves complaints and escalates scam reports automatically.
FNA’s technology enables recovery. Our track-and-trace technology rebuilds the full payment chain across participating institutions in real time. It uses network analysis to identify mule accounts and gives investigators a ranked list of where funds can still be frozen. That list matters because recovery usually depends on acting within 24 hours, often less.
The Gates Foundation is funding a 24-month implementation to integrate the Trust Layer with Raast. The Trust Layer’s liability design ensures the cost of protection never falls on low-income consumers.
“This grievance redress deployment in Pakistan puts the lowest-income consumers and scam victims at the centre of the intervention,” said Dr Kimmo Soramäki, Founder and CEO of FNA. “FNA is committed to embedding its funds recovery capabilities proven in Malaysia and the UAE into this urgent context with Proto.”
A model for other countries
Pakistan is one of several countries where Proto and FNA are building redress and fund recovery into digital public infrastructure. More low- and middle-income countries are now building a Trust Layer in from the start, rather than adding one after harm is done.
Pakistan will test both the technology and the sustainability model in a complex, multi-switch market at national scale. Together, the public and private partners in this initiative aim to show that protecting consumers and expanding financial inclusion are the same project, not competing goals.
About FNA
FNA is a leading analytics and simulation firm specialising in financial network mapping, stress testing, and fraud detection. Central banks, regulators, and financial market infrastructures worldwide use FNA’s platform to visualise and analyse complex transaction networks in real time. Its flagship solutions, including the National Fraud Portal and Money Trails, help authorities trace illicit fund flows, detect high-risk accounts, and respond to scams with speed and precision.
About Proto
Proto deploys inclusive AI workflows in emerging markets. Governments and enterprises trust it to automate workflows for anti-scam centres, patient experience, and other mission-critical use cases. Proto’s clients include central banks, remittance services, and hospitals, protected by the company’s SOC2, ISO27001, GDPR, and HIPAA compliance. Proto’s text and voice AI datasets give high performance in local languages beyond what large language models can do alone. Proto is headquartered in Canada and has regional offices in the Philippines and Rwanda.
Media contact: saiesha@fna.fi
