LSEG Risk Intelligence has launched Global Account Verification ( GAV ) in Asia-Pacific and Europe, the Middle East and Africa ( EMEA ).

The solution checks that payee and account details match before transfers are confirmed, thereby protecting businesses and individuals from fraudulent transactions.

The expansion of GAV globally follows the initial launch for US customers in October 2024.

The solution helps organizations protect their customers by enabling real-time verification of bank accounts and ownership across 21 countries. It verifies whether payments will reach the correct recipients by querying account information and categorizing them with a “match”, a “close match” or a “no match”.

GAV is designed to combat authorized push payment ( APP ) fraud, wherein fraudsters trick their victims into willingly making large bank transfers to them by posing as a bank or another trusted organization. It is part of a suite of solutions that LSEG Risk Intelligence offers to help organizations navigate risks, avoid reputational damage, reduce fraud, and ensure legal and regulatory compliance.

LSEG plans to add to the number of countries where GAV is available in 2025. The solution is also available via API, meaning that organizations can seamlessly integrate account data into their systems to drive efficiencies.

“Fraudsters are constantly innovating and operating with greater sophistication and scale than ever before. As bad actors target vulnerabilities across multiple points of the client and vendor workflows, we will continue to invest in robust, data-driven solutions to help our customers mitigate global payments and identity risk with greater assurance,” says Dal Sahota, head of trusted payments at LSEG Risk Intelligence.

Regulatory bodies are also stepping up with recent rules on reimbursements for victims for APP fraud in the United Kingdom and the European Union. For instance, the EU’s Instant Payments regulations require that all payment service providers within the bloc offer 24/7 instant payments starting January 2025. In addition, account name and IBAN account number checks will be mandatory from October 2025 for eurozone payment service providers.