Estonia Drafts Law Empowering Banks to Halt Suspected Fraud Payments
The Estonian Ministry of Finance is developing legislation to give financial institutions a clear legal basis for suspending suspicious transactions and sharing information, a direct response to financial fraud losses doubling to 29 million euros in 2025.
- —The Estonian Ministry of Finance is developing a legislative proposal to grant financial institutions a clear legal basis for sharing information with other banks, police, and CERT-EE when fraud is suspected.
- —The proposed legislation will also clarify legal frameworks and strengthen banks' rights to temporarily suspend or refuse payments based on reasonable suspicion of fraud.
- —The Ministry of Finance plans to launch a nationwide public awareness campaign, to be procured through a tender, to help citizens recognize and respond to fraud attempts.
- —The Banking Union is developing recommended practices, including a 'pause for thought' for unusual or high-risk payments, to prevent fraud.
- —Estonia's three largest telecommunications companies have implemented a technical solution since November 2025 to block calls from spoofed numbers, preventing tens of millions of fraudulent call attempts in 2025.
- —Financial fraud losses for Estonian residents in 2025 doubled to 29 million euros compared to the previous year, highlighting the escalating problem.
Recap
Estonia's response to escalating financial fraud is a shift from reactive recovery to proactive intervention. By legally empowering banks to act on suspicion and integrating this with telecom-level blocking and public education, the strategy aims to disrupt the speed-dependent tactics of fraudsters. The doubling of financial losses created the political will for a coordinated, multi-sector approach that treats fraud as a systemic risk requiring preemptive action, not just post-incident investigation.