National Bank of Canada teams up with Sardine on fraud

National Bank of Canada has signed a multi-year agreement with fraud and compliance technology provider Sardine to strengthen digital banking security and improve operational efficiency across its financial crime systems.

The bank will deploy Sardine's device intelligence and real-time risk-scoring technology across its retail, commercial, and wealth management operations. The agreement follows an evaluation process in which Sardine's platform is tested against existing fraud-prevention systems.

National Bank of Canada said the technology improved fraud detection rates while reducing false positives, a metric used to measure legitimate customer activity incorrectly flagged as suspicious.

The partnership reflects broader investment by banks in artificial intelligence and automated risk systems as financial institutions face growing pressure to detect fraud in real time while limiting disruption for customers.

Platform rollout

Sardine's systems are designed to identify suspicious behaviour through device intelligence, transaction monitoring and risk analysis.

The company said its technology is intended to support fraud prevention and anti-money laundering operations by consolidating data used by risk and compliance teams.

National Bank of Canada plans to integrate Sardine's risk-scoring capabilities across several banking segments, including consumer banking, business banking, and wealth services.

The bank serves about 2.7 million clients globally and reported assets of CAD $606 billion as of 31 January 2026.

Financial institutions have increased spending on fraud prevention technologies in recent years as digital banking adoption accelerates and fraud attempts become more sophisticated.

Banks are also under pressure to reduce customer friction during onboarding, payments and account access processes while maintaining compliance standards.

Investment plans

Alongside the commercial partnership, National Bank of Canada is increasing its financial backing of Sardine.

The bank, through its venture capital arm NAventures, is leading a USD $25 million extension to Sardine's Series C funding round.

The additional funding brings Sardine's total capital raised to USD $170 million.

The investment signals continued interest from banks in specialist fraud prevention providers that use artificial intelligence and behavioural analysis to monitor digital transactions and customer activity.

Sardine said it has expanded its work with banks and wealth management firms as financial institutions seek alternatives to older fraud detection systems.

The company also said its fraud consortium network now includes data linked to more than six billion profiled devices, 800 million consumers and three million businesses worldwide.

AI focus

Banks globally are increasing investment in AI-driven risk management systems as regulators and executives seek stronger controls against fraud, scams and financial crime.

Many lenders are adopting automated systems that can process large volumes of transaction and behavioural data in real time.

Sardine said its platform includes "agentic" AI systems designed to automate parts of fraud monitoring and compliance operations.

"After closely following Sardine's growth and hearing strong feedback from existing customers, we decided to conduct an extensive evaluation of their platform," said Joshuah Lebacq, Partner at NAventures, National Bank of Canada's corporate venture capital arm.

"The results gave us confidence to make Sardine a strong addition to our financial crime prevention operations and expand our commercial relationship," said Lebacq.

"We're excited about the potential of agentic AI, especially in the risk and compliance sphere, and Sardine's financial crime agents are setting the standard for the category," said Lebacq.

Banking demand

Sardine said financial institutions are increasingly seeking systems that can manage fraud detection, anti-money laundering controls and compliance operations through integrated platforms.

The company counts financial services firms, payments companies and software providers among its customers.

"Sardine was built for banks that need to stop fraud without slowing down their loyal customers," said Soups Ranjan, CEO and Co-founder of Sardine.

"National Bank of Canada is one of the most respected financial institutions in North America, and we're proud to support their financial crime operations as they continue to set the standard for digital banking in Canada," said Ranjan.