CaixaBank, Banco Santander y BBVA launch FrauDfense Check to strengthen the fight against financial crime across the sector

• CaixaBank, Banco Santander and BBVA through their joint company FrauDfense, announced the launch of FrauDfense Check, the company’s first-live operational service. It is open to participation from the entire Spanish financial sector and marks a milestone in the fight against financial crime.
• The service is launched following a pilot phase that demonstrated its capacity to detect millions of euros in fraud, supported by a high-performance technology platform.

Madrid/Barcelona, 15 June 2026

FrauDfense, a company owned by CaixaBank, Banco Santander and BBVA, today announces the go-live of FrauDfense Check, its first operational service. This initiative highlights the pioneering and innovative role of the three institutions in promoting sector-wide collaboration models, positioning the Spanish financial industry as an international benchmark in fraud prevention.

FrauDfense has developed an advanced, high-performance technology platform designed to operate in line with the most demanding banking standards. Building on this foundation, the company is launching a service aimed at preventing fraud before it occurs through the secure exchange of information between financial institutions.

Opening to other financial institutions

In this context, FrauDfense is opening participation to the entire Spanish financial sector, making the service available to new institutions and marking a milestone in the collective fight against financial crime.

The addition of new participants will expand the reach and effectiveness of the collaborative model, strengthening customer protection and reinforcing a robust and coordinated response to financial crime.

A service tested in real use cases with proven results

Over the past year, Banco Santander, BBVA and CaixaBank have tested FrauDfense Check, applying it to multiple use cases relevant to day-to-day banking operations, including customer onboarding, product contracting, credit transfers, instant payments, Bizum payments and card transactions.

As a result of this pilot, the capacity to prevent fraud worth millions of euros was demonstrated, highlighting the value of sector-wide collaboration and shared intelligence as key levers in addressing new fraud typologies.

A collaborative ecosystem to fight financial crime

FrauDfense has built a collaborative ecosystem in which financial crime leaders and experts from major Spanish financial institutions exchange information, analyse common patterns and design and promote joint actions against emerging threats.

This collaborative model also provides key support in anticipating and facilitating compliance with the upcoming regulatory requirements under the European Payment Services Regulation (PSR), currently in the approval phase, which strengthens the obligation for payment service providers to share fraud-related information. The FrauDfense approach enables this to be done in a structured, secure and privacy-preserving manner, raising the overall level of protection across the financial system.

About FrauDfense

FrauDfense is a company founded in 2023 and equally owned by Banco Santander, BBVA and CaixaBank. Its purpose is to promote innovative initiatives that strengthen the financial sector’s capabilities in the fight against financial crime. Through advanced technology and sector-wide collaboration, FrauDfense aims to become the reference hub for fraud prevention in Spain.

FrauDfense’s Mission is “to prevent financial crime by fostering a collaborative ecosystem that enhances the security and trust of citizens and businesses in their daily activities”.

Alberto López Nestar is the CEO of FrauDfense. The Board of Directors is composed of two representatives from each financial institution: Hazel Díez Castaño, Global Chief Information Security Officer (Global CISO) of Banco Santander; Jesús García del Valle, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of Banco Santander Spain; Natalia Ortega Gómez, Global Head of Financial Crime Prevention at BBVA; Valentín Sánchez Rodríguez, Global Head of Corporate Security at BBVA; Alberto Rosa Gámez, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Security Officer (CTO/CISO) of CaixaBank; and Marina Rodríguez Díaz, Deputy Director of Security and Intelligence at CaixaBank.