The European Central Bank (ECB) has selected Feedzai, a Portuguese startup specialising in artificial intelligence, to help prevent fraud in its proposed digital euro currency. The contract, valued at up to 237.3 million euros, is part of a series of agreements the ECB announced on Thursday to further a project it considers essential for the euro zone’s financial independence from the United States.
Feedzai, in collaboration with its subcontractor PwC, will provide an AI model to evaluate digital euro payments based on fraud risk. The model will assess deviations from a customer’s typical behaviour, interactions, and transaction history. This evaluation will help payment service providers decide whether to approve digital euro transactions, which involve exchanges between electronic wallets backed by the central bank.
The four-year agreement includes an option to extend it to 15 years. While the estimated value is 79.1 million euros, the contract has a spending cap of 237.3 million euros. Additionally, the ECB awarded four other digital euro contracts, ranging from 27.6 million euros to 220.7 million euros, to firms like French IT consulting firm Capgemini. The ECB clarified that payments to contractors will commence only upon project initiation, pending legislative approval for the digital euro, which the central bank hopes to secure around mid-2025 with a launch targeted for 2029.
Feedzai, registered in Portugal, processes $8 trillion in payments annually for clients such as Portuguese bank Novobanco and Abu Dhabi’s Wio Bank. The company offers a risk management platform powered by AI to fight fraud. In addition to this contract, Feedzai also announced $75 million in funding from investors like Lince Capital, Iberis Capital and Explorer Investments.
