Partnership for Information Sharing: Inter-bank fraud recovery network
Fraudulent funds often cross multiple banks before a SEPA recall is picked up by a human operative.
Interlock is a platform that enables near real-time, cross-border recovery of fraudulent funds among payment service providers (PSPs).
A single report, propagated across the network to alert institutions and secure funds
Interlock Platform
The problem
Fragmented detection, against coordinated fraud.
Fraud is now coordinated, fast, and routinely cross-border. The institutions defending against it are not. A SEPA recall, routed through operations queues and human review, arrives long after the balance has moved on. A second-generation recall takes even longer to reach.
Fraudsters exploit exactly that gap, often leaving victims of fraud to wait weeks to obtain the name and address of the beneficiary, and to obtain transaction statements through a court procedure. Speed, fragmentation, and information asymmetry are the conditions that make dispersal work: funds are split, layered, and forwarded through accounts at several institutions within minutes of leaving the victim.
Interlock provides a platform to mimic that speed, following funds across PSPs and reducing the trace from days to a matter of minutes.
The binding constraint is not detection. It is the interval between a victim's report and a hold at the institution where the funds actually sit. Closing that interval can be achieved with Interlock, which removes the human operational queues where they are not necessary.
How it works
Four steps, ordered by the clock.
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01
Report
A victim files a request with their PSP. The PSP reviews the case and files a trace request on the Interlock network, carrying the disputed transaction reference and the evidence needed for a receiving institution to act.
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02
Trace
Interlock network traces the outgoing funds through participating institutions. Each trace identifies the next set of receiving accounts and the balance remaining at the time of the query.
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03
Secure
Institutions holding an identified balance secure the funds and initiate an investigation with the information provided by the reporting PSP.
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04
Return
Secured funds are returned directly to the reporting bank under the Interlock legal framework. The full trace is retained as an audit record for both institutions and, where required, for the competent authority.
Why now and what's in it for me
PSD3 and the PSR change who carries the loss.
They also pave the way for Interlock.
The PSR and PSD3 are in their final legislative stages — text published, adoption pending. Together they move the loss from fraud onto every participant in the payment chain, not just the payer PSP, and widen unauthorised transactions to cover spoofing and social engineering.
The less-discussed change is the liability now landing on payee PSPs. Transaction monitoring can no longer be defended as an anti-money-laundering and CTF obligation alone; it explicitly covers fraud, with direct obligations and liability for failure. Both the payer PSP and the defrauded payer gain a direct legal basis to pursue the PSPs in the chain.
Interlock is built for that world: a move from isolated defence to network-based response.
Security and data protection
Compliant with GDPR, AMLA and PSR.
Data minimisation – GDPR
A trace processes strictly the data necessary to identify the subsequent outgoing transaction, such as the date and time of execution, and the unique identifier of the payee.
Compliant with Art 83a PSR
Interlock implements appropriate technical and organisational measures, pseudonymisation, security and confidentiality proportionate to data exchanged.
Compliant with Art 75 AMLA
The exchange of information and trace via Interlock is consistent with the regulation set out under Article 75 of AMLA.
Return of funds
The Interlock legal setup allows for the return of funds directly to the PSP issuing the trace, with full indemnity and protection for the participating PSPs.
Audit record
Every request, trace journey, and hold is recorded and retained strictly for the period necessary and in any case no longer than 5 years.
Secure
Appropriate safeguards in place, compliant with your DORA and NIS2 requirements.
Next step
Request a briefing.
An introduction session for fraud operations, payments, legal and financial crime teams. We answer all the hard questions.
Contact: Interlock.EU@gmail.com · We aim to contact you within 1 business day.