Frictionless Instant Payments: Trading Fraud Risk for Speed and Finality?
Last time, we looked at successful RTP schemes like UPI and Pix. Despite soaring adoption, the spectre of fraud is present, with more than 7 million fraud attempts on Pix alone in H1 2025. Now we ask how UKPI compares, and whether the UK can scale as well as other markets without more regulation.
How much for scale?
RTP systems hinge on the ability to balance scale, speed, and finality — the features that make RTP great — while maintaining safety and controlling liability.
Brazil and India moved fast for scale, using regulation to support that sprint. It would appear they’re now paying a price in terms of fast-growing fraud.
As the UK and other European markets look to emulate Brazil and India’s success, they want to protect against fraud risk using voluntary measures and safety guardrails. Meanwhile, markets such as Brazil and India are now looking to retrofit fraud prevention measures. But can European laggards copy the successes seen in emerging markets? And will new anti-fraud measures in India and Brazil prove effective?
UK
Unlike Pix or UPI, the UK Payments Initiative (UKPI) is a voluntary, industry-led body to which PSPs opt-in. UKPI sits on top of the existing Faster Payments open banking rail and offers a shared rulebook for A2A payments. It aims to offer a more practical alternative to direct debit and cards, and to govern and operate commercial variable recurring payments.
UK fraud losses from RTP transactions fell by 21% in Q1 2026.
As part of a more cautious approach, UKPI has already sought to resolve issues such as liability for fraud losses. PSPs must reimburse Automated Push Payment (APP) fraud victims within five working days, with costs split between sending and receiving institutions. This has had a significant effect, with APP fraud losses on Faster Payments falling by 21% in Q1 2026, and 89% of claim value reimbursed.
Brazil
To combat recent rises in fraud, Brazil has introduced new authentication measures for devices using Pix for the first time. Transactions have been capped at R$200 with unregistered devices facing a daily limit of R$1000. Brazil has also introduced night-time restrictions and new refund infrastructure such as the Special Refund Mechanism (MED), which lets victims request fund freezes at the institution receiving funds, with banks involved given seven days to evaluate the claim.
India
In April 2026, the RBI mandated two factor authentication for every digital payment and shifted fraud liability onto lenders and payments providers rather than consumers. Considerations such as a ‘kill switch,’ for transactions, including a lag to identify recipients, have also been discussed.
Back in an instant?
These measures suggest that RTP’s most successful adopters already see automation, finality, and speed as something of a double-edged sword. By introducing new measures to reduce fraud, Brazil and India have taken a step back from fully automated, super-fast payments. And it’s worth noting that we have yet to see significant outcomes from these measures.
The UK’s voluntary approach, focused on transaction security, means that the country’s attempts to scale RTP will be less impressive at first than its emerging-market peers. Will slow and steady win the race, in the shape of the UK, or will slower markets never reach the required scale for success, leaving the balancing act between friction and frictionless unsolved?