Summary: Following yesterday’s global alert on AI voice cloning, the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has issued an emergency circular to all retail banks. Effective immediately, “Voice Authentication” is suspended as a standalone verification factor for transactions over BD 500. Banks must revert to OTP or hardware-token verification until voice-engine countermeasures are deployed.
Business Impact: High operational friction for phone banking centers. Expect increased call handle times and customer complaints. However, this dramatically reduces the immediate risk of “Deepfake CEO Fraud” hitting local corporate accounts.
Why It Happened: The CBB acted proactively after intelligence reports confirmed that regional “Voice-as-a-Service” tools could bypass standard banking IVR (Interactive Voice Response) systems with 90% success rates.
Recommended Executive Action: Update your internal “Wire Transfer Policy” today. Mandate a “dual-channel” verification (e.g., a follow-up WhatsApp or email confirmation) for any payment instruction received via phone, regardless of how “authentic” the requestor sounds.
Hashtags: #Bahrain #CBB #VoiceCloning #FinTech #Regulation #Deepfakes