Insights

Smarter Faster Payments, Stronger Identity

May 05, 2026

At the 2026 Smarter Faster Payments event, one theme came through clearly: payments are moving faster, but fraud is keeping pace.

As real-time payment capabilities expand, financial institutions are being asked to make decisions instantly while maintaining trust. The challenge is no longer speed. It is confidence in the identity behind every transaction.

Somos at Smarter Faster Payments

Somos was proud to join industry leaders at this year’s event, with Jaime Zetterstrom, VP, Product & Innovation, contributing to a panel focused on combating fraud and scams in digital payments.

During the 50-min session, Jaime joined leaders from Bankers of America, Mitek Systems, Federal Reserve Financial Services to emphasize a critical shift in fraud prevention: the problem is not just transactions. It is identity. As fraud becomes more sophisticated, verifying who is behind an account or interaction is essential to stopping risk before it spreads.

Faster Payments Are Accelerating Mule Activity and Identity Risk

As payments become faster and often irreversible, the time to detect fraud continues to shrink. Financial institutions can no longer rely on post-transaction controls. Risk must be identified earlier, without adding friction to the customer experience.

At the same time, fraud is becoming more sophisticated. A growing concern discussed at the event is synthetic mule activity.

These accounts are designed to appear legitimate, using a mix of real and fabricated information. A real phone number. A valid address. A plausible identity. Individually, the data looks correct. The risk appears when it does not fully align.

To keep pace, institutions must:

• Verify customers quickly and accurately

• Reduce false positives while identifying real risk

• Ensure they are engaging with the right person every time

This shift is not about adding more steps. It is about using better data to uncover inconsistencies earlier.

Solving for Identity Confidence in Faster Payments

It is critical for Financial Institutions in the payments sector to strengthen identity verification at the point of interaction. The goal is not to slow transactions down, but to ensure the data behind them is accurate, consistent and tied to the right individual.

RealAgent addresses this by helping institutions verify consumer contact data and uncover inconsistencies that may indicate fraud. By connecting via API or UI during onboarding, customer interactions or ongoing monitoring, RealAgent enables teams to compare consumer-provided information against authoritative data sources.

With RealAgent, organizations can:

• Improve contact accuracy before engaging with customers

• Identify mismatches between account data and verified ownership

• Detect early indicators of synthetic identities and mule activity

• Support faster decisions without adding friction

As payments accelerate, stronger identity context becomes critical. RealAgent helps financial institutions move faster with confidence by ensuring they are interacting with the right person at every stage.

For a deeper look at how to detect synthetic mule activity, download the RealAgent one-pager:

The conversations at Smarter Faster Payments made it clear that identity is becoming the foundation of fraud prevention. Organizations that invest in stronger identity verification and better data alignment will be better positioned to reduce risk, protect their customers and maintain confidence in every transaction.