Why the right team remains the key to fighting financial fraud

Financial fraud is a growing concern in the United Kingdom, with individuals and organisations facing substantial risks. As we navigate the evolving financial landscape, staying ahead of these threats requires adaptability and expertise, and a comprehensive approach is needed to combat advances in fraud.

An essential component of a robust anti-fraud strategy is the augmentation of teams, which provides additional capacity, flexibility and expertise. In this blog, we will explore the UK’s financial fraud environment and consider why your team structure is one of the most important countermeasures.

The surge of financial fraud in the UK

The spectrum of fraudulent activities is wide, encompassing investment scams, tax fraud, identity theft, credit card fraud and, the latest area of concern, APP fraud with over 116,000 people falling victim in the first six months of 2023 as reported by the FCA. Fraudsters are gaining access to more sophisticated tools which are enabling opportunities for criminals to create convincing fake personas and manipulate voice recordings, making fraud detection even more challenging.

With scam volumes on the rise, criminals are increasingly relying on money mules to funnel fraudulent funds to accounts they control. Detecting inbound payments used for fraudulent activities will become more challenging, necessitating innovative strategies to identify and prevent these transactions.

Expected regulatory changes from PSR & FCA as a result of increased fraud

As the UK regulatory landscape evolves to counter financial fraud, regulatory changes expected from the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) will be significant and will impact some banks more than others. Preparing for these security and protection policies will be essential to avoid additional fines and to remain compliant.

The FCA has also provided critical insights into the state of financial fraud in the UK. As more people become potentially vulnerable, due to cost-of-living pressures and evolving fraud methods, it is imperative that firms continually evaluate their approach and ensure that robust frameworks are in place to detect fraud, as well as provide effective support for victims when it happens.

Ensuring teams are well-equipped, both in terms of their capacity and skillset, is critical.

The FCA’s review made several key recommendations, which firms will need to implement:

1. Strengthening fraud prevention by enhancing systems designed to detect and avert fraud.
2. Consumer-centric approach to allow the delivery of good consumer outcomes.
3. Improving support for victims.
4. Improving complaint handling processes and speed of response.
5. Identifying, understanding and showing empathy towards customer vulnerability.

Implement these changes with Momenta’s people solutions

In the fight against financial fraud, it is evident that the right talent is not merely a choice but an essential component of a comprehensive fraud strategy. Firms should act now to set up new staffing strategies that recognise the need to respond quickly to rising levels of financial crime and increased regulatory scrutiny.

As a market-leading people solutions business, Momenta has over 30 years’ experience of deploying skilled, qualified, and vetted professionals to the Financial & Professional Services sectors, often to support complex and regulatory-driven programmes of work. Our network is readily available when additional, specialist support is needed. Whether you require resources to assist with large scale fraud remediation or front facing customer services, our solutions are proven to deliver results, on time and cost effectively.

Trusted by candidates and clients alike, Momenta provides:

• Specialist knowledge of the industries that our clients operate in.
• Accredited quality delivered through our robust and scalable financial services professional resourcing process that is double ISO (9001 & 27001) accredited, ensuring you receive the same high quality standard whether you require 1 or 100 people to deliver your project.
• Holistic solutions that meet the needs of our clients and a partnership based on service, quality and value.

Momenta has worked with multiple companies globally, providing intelligent people solutions for both permanent and non-permanent workforces.

If your business has been affected by additional regulatory or compliance pressures and needs increased staffing support in your financial crime and fraud departments, speak to us to see how we can help in supplying experienced and effective members to your team.

 

Reference list:

• FCA (2023a). Innovation, AI & the future of financial regulation. [online] FCA. Available at: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/speeches/innovation-ai-future-financial-regulation [Accessed 17 Nov. 2023].

• FCA. (2023b). Firms should strengthen anti-fraud systems and must treat victims of fraud better, review finds. [online] Available at: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/news-stories/firms-strengthen-anti-fraud-systems-must-treat-victims-fraud-better [Accessed 17 Nov. 2023].