Fraud related to payment methods in France is changing in nature. Losses linked to psychological manipulation have significantly increased in 2025, even as the overall volume of fraudulent transactions declined. This shift is reshaping the regulatory and technological priorities of online finance, from the European framework for instant payments to the first experiments with digital euro.
Fraud through manipulation and transfers: the real risk of online finance in 2025
The classic scheme of credit card fraud is losing ground. Fraudsters are now targeting transfers, relying on social engineering rather than technical flaws. The rise of scams involving fake bank advisors and fake technical support illustrates this shift.
This migration can be explained by two converging factors. First, the strong customer authentication (SCA) mandated by the PSD2 directive has made purely technical card fraud more difficult to execute. Second, a transfer, once validated by the client under psychological pressure, offers little recourse for reversal.
The Observatory of Payment Method Security, in its 2025 annual report, confirms this shift. The total number of fraudulent transactions is decreasing, but the unit loss per fraud is increasing because transfers involve higher amounts than card payments. To follow the latest news on the Terre Finance site, this type of sector data serves as a useful entry point.
The response from banks involves real-time behavioral alerts and training advisors to spot clients under duress. However, the detection rate remains insufficient for transfers initiated voluntarily by the victim.
Beneficiary verification and instant transfers: what the European regulation changes
Beneficiary verification before executing a transfer has come into effect under the regulation on instant payments. This mechanism, sometimes confused with the future provisions of PSD3, relies on a match check between the entered IBAN and the declared recipient’s name.
The regulatory distinction matters. PSD3 and the Payment Services Regulation (PSR) are still pending legislative completion at the European level. Presenting these texts as already applicable would be an analytical error. However, two obligations are already in force:
- The mandatory deployment of instant euro transfers for payment service providers in the SEPA zone, with a pricing cap aligned with that of traditional transfers.
- The verification of IBAN/name match, which must alert the payer in case of a mismatch before the final validation of the transaction.
- The obligation for providers to refund under certain conditions victims of fraud when the match check has not been performed correctly.
This framework changes the distribution of responsibility between the client and their bank. A provider that does not implement verification is exposed to a refund obligation, creating a direct economic incentive to deploy the system.
PSD3 and PSR: realistic timeline
The PSD3/PSR legislative package has reached a political agreement, but its transposition into national laws will take several more quarters. Online finance players anticipating these texts are working on the regulated opening of payment data (expanded open finance) and on the supervision of new intermediaries, particularly aggregators and payment initiators.
Digital euro: progress status and impact on online payments
The project for a digital euro led by the ECB has passed several technical milestones. According to the Banque de France, cited by Revue Banque, it could enable online payments, in-store payments, and peer-to-peer transactions, including offline.
This last point (offline payment) is the differentiating element compared to existing solutions. No public electronic payment method currently works without a network connection at the time of the transaction. If this feature is confirmed in the final version, it would open up a use comparable to cash for small amounts.
The launch remains conditional. The ECB has not set a definitive date, and the European legal framework (the regulation on the digital euro) is still progressing through the legislative process. However, we observe that payment providers are anticipating technical integration, particularly on the following points:
- The coexistence with existing wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay) and banking apps, without duplicating the user experience.
- The capping of amounts held in digital euro, aimed at limiting the risk of banking disintermediation.
- The question of remuneration: the digital euro would not bear interest, positioning it as a payment instrument, not a savings tool.
Tokenized finance and market infrastructures: ongoing convergence
The tokenization of financial assets (bonds, fund shares, debt securities) is progressing in Europe, but at a pace that remains experimental. European initiatives aim to connect tokenized asset platforms with traditional settlement and delivery infrastructures, although this convergence is not yet operational at a large scale.
The friction point remains interoperability between distributed ledgers and central depositories. The pilot regimes set up by ESMA allow for testing blockchain issuances with a lighter regulatory framework, but the volumes processed remain marginal compared to traditional markets.
The interest for online investors lies along two axes. First, the potential reduction of settlement times (moving from T+2 to near-instantaneous). Second, the fractionalization of assets, which allows for lowering entry tickets on products previously reserved for institutional investors.
Online finance in 2025-2026 is structured around these four axes: combating fraud through manipulation, effective deployment of secure instant transfers, preparation for the digital euro, and the first bridges between tokenized assets and traditional markets. Each of these projects modifies the value chain of payments and investment, with concrete impacts on costs, security, and access to financial products.
