Mastercard plans to expand First-Party Trust across EMEA to tackle “friendly” fraud

Mastercard says it will expand its First-Party Trust program across EMEA, aiming to reduce first-party fraud, sometimes called “friendly” fraud. In this type of fraud, the payment originates with the account holder or the legitimate merchant, but the transaction is later disputed or manipulated, creating challenges for payment networks and financial institutions that must decide what evidence supports a chargeback or claim.

First-Party Trust is positioned as a programmatic approach to improve trust between the parties involved in card payments. Mastercard’s stated goal in the expansion is to address first-party fraud more directly, rather than relying only on post-transaction dispute processes after consumers or merchants challenge outcomes.

The announcement, published by Electronic Payments International and carried by Yahoo Finance, frames the expansion as a regional rollout across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. That matters because fraud patterns, regulatory expectations, and payment flows can differ across markets, so network-level initiatives often need to be adapted and broadened rather than deployed as one-size-fits-all controls.

Mastercard did not, in the referenced announcement, provide details on timing, participating countries, or specific merchants, issuers, or acquirers that will take part in the EMEA expansion. It also did not disclose whether the rollout will involve any new fees, changes to operational requirements, or measurable targets tied to fraud reduction.

The company also did not specify which technical or workflow components are included in First-Party Trust beyond its focus on first-party fraud. For readers, “friendly fraud” typically refers to situations where a cardholder authorized a transaction but later disputes it for reasons other than the goods or services not being received, or where a merchant dispute is used strategically. Programs aimed at this category generally seek to improve the quality of evidence and verification at the transaction level.

In payments, chargebacks and fraud investigations can impose costs on everyone in the ecosystem, including merchants that absorb losses and compliance workloads, and issuers and networks that must adjudicate disputes. A network-led trust initiative like First-Party Trust is designed to reduce uncertainty by improving the standard of confirmation and the alignment of expectations among participants.

Even with that broader rationale, investors and operators will want to watch for concrete rollout information. The current disclosure does not indicate which aspects of the program will be mandatory or optional in each market, how Mastercard will measure success, or how it will coordinate with national dispute frameworks and card scheme rules.

For the next updates, Mastercard’s most likely areas of emphasis will be implementation timelines, the specific EMEA markets included, and any partner onboarding language. Those details will determine how quickly merchants and financial institutions can integrate the program and whether the change affects dispute handling in practice.