Balancing Merchant and Customer Risk: Managing Fraud in POS Payments

Why It Matters

Effective fraud mitigation in phone‑first POS financing protects revenue, preserves customer trust, and safeguards banks from escalating regulatory and financial risks.

Key Takeaways

• Phone-first payments already dominate in many emerging markets
• Fraud in POS financing is growing exponentially and outpacing banks
• Real-time AI profiling needed across merchants and consumers simultaneously
• Ecosystem orchestration replaces traditional vendor management for fraud defense
• Strategic balance required between internal moat and external partner networks

Summary

At the Diebold Nixdorf Intersect 2026 conference in Cannes, Finextra TV host Alex Lipitch interviewed Bankart CEO Samo Kumar about the rapid rise of point‑of‑sale (POS) financing and its fraud implications.

Kumar argued that phone‑first payments have already leap‑frogged traditional card use in regions such as Africa and Southeast Asia, making the shift effectively complete. He warned that fraud in POS financing is expanding exponentially, outpacing banks’ current defenses, and that fraudsters now coordinate at a higher level than many financial institutions.

He emphasized that real‑time AI‑driven profiling must continuously ingest data from both consumers and merchants, noting that “it’s not vendor management anymore, it’s ecosystem orchestration.” The discussion highlighted the need for collaborative, industry‑wide threat intelligence rather than isolated, competitive approaches.

For banks, the takeaway is clear: invest in adaptive AI tools, retain a core anti‑fraud moat internally, and strategically orchestrate external partnerships. Failure to evolve could erode margins and increase regulatory exposure as POS financing volumes continue to surge.

Original Description

Joining FinextraTV at Diebold Nixdorf's Intersect Cannes event, Samo Kumar, CEO, Bankart discussed the increasingly modernised world of POS financing. As payments have become faster, more real-time and phone-first, Kumar addressed the need for stronger fraud protections. He mentioned that banking, in this area in particular, is no longer about competition but industry collaboration to protect a mutual consumer. Equally, Kumar explains how the balance is particularly complicated as it is not just protections on the consumer side, but also on the merchant side.

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