Chief Information Officer at Prudential Bank LTD, Leopold L.L. Armah has called for greater collaboration among financial institutions, regulators and technology providers to combat the growing threat of digital fraud, stressing that the fight against financial crime requires real-time intelligence sharing and smarter security solutions.

The Bank’s CIO made the call while contributing on a panel discussion on “Fraud Wars 2026: Winning Against Real-Time Crime, Deepfakes, Identity Abuse and Social Engineering” at the recently held MoneyAura Summit in Accra.

Addressing participants, Mr. Armah emphasized that fraud has evolved alongside digital payments, making traditional security approaches inadequate in today’s fast-paced financial ecosystem. “Payments now happen within seconds, and unfortunately, fraud also happens within seconds. By the time traditional investigations are completed, the fraudster may be already gone. That is why we need intelligent fraud solutions that can detect suspicious activity in real time,” he said.

He called on financial institutions to move beyond conventional information sharing by developing trusted fraud intelligence platforms that enable institutions to exchange transaction intelligence securely and proactively identify emerging threats. “We need to go beyond simply sharing customer information. The industry must build trusted fraud intelligence platforms that allow us to share transaction data securely and invest in tools that help us detect and prevent fraud before it occurs,” he noted.

Mr. Armah further highlighted the growing importance of Artificial Intelligence in strengthening fraud detection capabilities, explaining that AI enables institutions to identify unusual transaction patterns and respond almost instantly. “Many institutions already have fraud monitoring solutions, but without AI, they cannot effectively detect fraud in real time. Artificial intelligence gives us the ability to identify risks much faster and respond before significant losses occur,” he explained.

Mr. Armah also stressed that tackling digital fraud cannot be the responsibility of financial institutions alone but requires collective action across the entire financial ecosystem. “Fraud is everyone’s concern. It requires collaboration among banks, regulators, fintechs and customers. As financial services continue to evolve, we must work together to build secure systems that inspire confidence while supporting innovation,” he said.