Estonia advances bill to strengthen fight against financial fraud to second reading
The Riigikogu's Legal Affairs Committee has sent to second reading a bill that would let banks freeze suspicious payments. Fraudsters stole 29 million euros in Estonia in 2025, nearly double the previous year.
The Legal Affairs Committee of Estonia's parliament, the Riigikogu, has sent to second reading a bill aimed at making the detection and prevention of financial fraud more effective.
The bill would give commercial banks the right to suspend a payment transaction when there is reasonable suspicion of fraud. Currently, banks have no legal basis to halt a payment. Madis Timpson, chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee, said a bank would also be able to block a transaction if there are grounds to believe the money is likely headed to a fraudster.
Wider information sharing
Under the amendments, banks and payment institutions would also gain the right to exchange fraud-related information with other credit institutions, payment and e-money institutions, as well as with the Police and Border Guard Board and CERT-EE, the cyber incident handling unit of the Estonian Information System Authority.
The changes are meant to let payment service providers intervene faster when fraud is suspected and cooperate more closely with each other, the police and state information system authorities. This is expected to reduce fraud-related losses and improve the security of the financial system.
Losses nearly doubled
In 2025, fraudsters swindled a total of 29 million euros from ordinary people and businesses in Estonia — almost double the damage recorded in 2024.
The bill's second reading is scheduled for October 14, with the third and final reading set for October 21. When the Ministry of Finance first introduced the bill in February this year, the amendments were expected to take effect on July 1, 2026.
