Mastercard is extending its First-Party Trust programme to Europe, as merchants and issuers deal with a growing number of disputes over legitimate purchases. The programme targets first-party fraud, often referred to as friendly fraud, which occurs when a cardholder disputes a genuine purchase, either intentionally or because they do not recognise the transaction on their statement.
Rollout timeline across Europe
First-Party Trust launched in 2024 in the US, Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Asia-Pacific region. It will become available in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa in October 2026, and across Europe in July 2027. Through the programme, European issuers will be able to distinguish third-party fraud, where card details are used without the cardholder's consent, from first-party fraud when reviewing disputes.
Pressure on dispute management is growing. According to a Mastercard-commissioned report, global chargeback volume is expected to reach 324 million transactions in 2028, up from a forecast of 261 million in 2025.
Merchant evidence and fraud signals in authorisation
The programme gives merchants, including small businesses, two ways to share information with card issuers: directly as part of the transaction, or during the disputes process. It includes First-Party Trust insights in authorisation, powered by Mastercard's fraud models, that give issuers risk signals indicating likely third-party fraud and flag the highest-trust transactions.
Merchants can also provide evidence related to the purchase, delivery, and authentication of a transaction, where available and appropriate, to help issuers assess whether a disputed purchase was legitimate. In addition, Mastercard has introduced rules that define compelling evidence for reviewing disputed purchases. These include chargeback protection for merchants in disputes that meet the programme's evidence-sharing requirements.
Michele Centemero, Executive Vice President, Services Europe, at Mastercard, said that helping merchants and issuers access the transaction information needed to review disputed purchases can reduce unnecessary disputes. For merchants and issuers in Europe, the programme aims to cut avoidable chargebacks and the costs of handling them.
