Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank has deployed Visa’s Threat Intelligence Platform, in what the two companies describe as the first deployment of the tool at any bank. Visa used the platform on itself first, as what it calls its own first customer, before ADIB became the first external institution to put it into production.
What the platform actually does
, built on the same defences Visa uses to protect its own global network, a network Visa says blocks around 90 million cyberattacks and 11 million phishing emails a month across more than 200 countries. Visa has invested $13 billion in technology over five years, according to the company.
The platform covers five areas: threat intelligence on malware-based indicators specific to financial services, vulnerability intelligence on exploits and exposures, brand intelligence to catch impersonation attempts, digital identity intelligence to monitor for executive and employee targeting, and financial intelligence that monitors dark web credential leaks enriched with VisaNet data.
From MoU to production, in stages
at the World Governments Summit in February 2025, agreeing to collaborate on an enhanced threat intelligence solution. Visa launched the Threat Intelligence Platform globally in Paris on 2 July 2026. ADIB’s deployment is described as an early one, with the bank working alongside Visa to co-design the platform’s initial use cases and operational framework rather than adopting a finished, off-the-shelf product.
The platform is now integrated into ADIB’s fraud prevention framework, giving the bank’s cybersecurity, fraud and risk teams real-time visibility into threats through intelligence tailored to financial services specifically, rather than generic cyber threat feeds.
The idea isn’t new, even if Visa’s tool is
Visa is not the first card network to give issuing banks its own fraud intelligence. , built with Recorded Future, on 27 October 2025, roughly nine months before Visa’s platform went live. During a six-month pilot, Mastercard said the tool helped identify malicious domains linked to about $120 million in fraud across roughly 9,500 e-commerce sites.
When Mastercard’s tool launched, Irvin Salinas Pineda, a fraud expert at Banco Mercantil del Norte, said of adopting it: “Mastercard Threat Intelligence will help us to keep pace with main threats and trends, something that is not possible today due to highly demanding operations in the bank.”
Although that reaction is to Mastercard’s product, not Visa’s, it points to the same problem both networks are now selling a fix for: banks that only find out about a breach once the fraud losses have already started.
What the companies say
Amit Malhotra, Global Head of Retail Banking at ADIB, said: “ADIB’s early adoption of the Visa Threat Intelligence Platform reflects our commitment to innovating and delivering a secure and trusted banking experience for our customers. By strengthening our ability to identify payment risks earlier and respond more effectively, we are enhancing customer protection while supporting a resilient and seamless digital banking journey.”
Dr. Saeeda Jaffar, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the GCC, said: “As the cyber threat landscape continues to evolve alongside the rapid digitalisation of financial services, we are committed to strengthening the security of the UAE’s payments ecosystem.”
Neither company has disclosed how ADIB’s early results are being measured, what specific threats the platform has caught since deployment, or when other banks in the region might get access to it.
