On 1 July, Hungary is rolling out a major upgrade to the security of instant bank transfers: the Central Fraud Detection System (Központi Visszaélésszűrő Rendszer, KVR) went live, using artificial intelligence to assess transactions in real-time and determine within seconds whether a transfer is safe to proceed.

Risk Index: Is your transfer safe?

Operated by Giro Ltd. under the mandate of the Hungarian National Bank, the system assigns a risk index score from 1 to 10 to every instant transfer, based on a centralised database of fraud patterns, according to BiztosDöntés. The goal isn’t to block transfers outright, but to identify suspicious activity promptly, all without compromising the system’s promise of completing transfers within five seconds.

If your money ends up in the wrong hands, you’ll get it back

KVR doesn’t make final decisions: the approval or blocking of transfers remains the responsibility of the banks. If the system flags a transaction with a risk rating of 7 or higher, the bank must conduct additional checks before allowing it to proceed. If a bank fails to intervene and the funds are stolen, it is obligated to reimburse the customer. This same liability applies if proper customer authentication was not carried out, according to Péter Gergely, an expert at BiztosDöntés.

The new system is part of a five-step security initiative launched by the Hungarian National Bank. In addition to KVR, the program includes legislative changes, stricter oversight of banks, and public awareness campaigns.

Less money lost to scams

Statistics show that existing fraud detection systems at banks have already proven effective. Over the past four years, the share of successful scams has dropped from 83% to 35%. This year, fraudsters have only managed to steal 56% of the money they tried to take, down from 84% in 2021. Consumer losses have also gone down: in the first quarter of 2025, the average amount stolen per scam was HUF 822,000 (EUR 2,057), the lowest figure in the past two years.

The central system is designed to complement banks’ existing security tools, not replace them. It’s particularly effective in identifying fraud patterns where multiple customers send money to the same collecting account: a tactic that may go unnoticed at the individual bank level but is detectable across the entire banking sector through the KVR.

A globally unique solution

The Hungarian system is seen as a pioneering initiative globally. According to Péter Gergely, no other country currently operates a mandatory, real-time fraud prevention platform that spans the entire banking sector at this scale.

Another key pillar of digital security lies in mobile banking apps, which now offer a range of protective features: call recognition, daily transfer limits, instant card blocking, geographic restrictions, and even self-exclusion options within the app. Together, these tools significantly limit fraudsters’ room to operate, offering unprecedented protection for consumers’ money.

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Featured image: depositphotos.com

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