/financial crime

News and resources on financial crime, including fraud, scams, Anti Money Laundering and Know Your Customer.

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Expert opinions

Frank Moreno

Frank Moreno CMO at Entersekt

U.S. banks in danger of getting a red card at 2026 FIFA World Cup

In a little over a year, North America will play host to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. And, with concerns already mounting around the red tape surrounding the 5.5 million fans expected to descend on 11 U.S.cities, banks have been warned that they should beef up their fraud protection for the hundreds of millions of additional transactions ahead of and ...

/retail /crime Exposing Financial Crime

Marko Maras

Marko Maras CEO at Trustfull

AI in fraud: Biggest Threat or Best Defense?

A corporate finance employee in Hong Kong receives an urgent video call from their CFO. The face on the screen is familiar, the voice unmistakable. Without hesitation, they authorize a $25 million wire transfer—only to discover later that their CFO never made the call. In the US, a man panics when he hears his mother’s voice on the phone, beggin...

/ai /crime Artificial Intelligence and Financial Services

Steve Marshall

Steve Marshall Director of Advisory Services, at FinScan

KYC and Adverse Media Screening: Unearthing Hidden Risks

Know Your Customer (KYC) remains the cornerstone of identifying potential reputational and financial risks, but as information sources become increasingly diverse, traditional KYC verification methods might no longer be enough. Enter adverse media screening—the unsung hero of KYC that strengthens anti-money laundering (AML) defenses and helps busi...

/regulation /crime Exposing Financial Crime

Joris Lochy

Joris Lochy Product Manager at Intix | Co-founder at Capilever

Fighting Financial Crime Together: The Role of Data Sharing

Financial crime continues to evolve at an alarming pace. Despite significant investments in advanced detection techniques, only a small fraction of these crimes is detected and stopped. Research highlights that as little as 1% of illicit financial flows are intercepted, leaving a staggering 99% to slip through the cracks. This is a strong reminde

/regulation /crime Exposing Financial Crime

Nick Root

Nick Root CEO at Intergiro

The Scamdemic is Real: Why Fighting Fraud is Fintech's Biggest Battle

As an embedded payments provider across the EU, we fight fraud 24/7. Deepfakes, synthetic IDs, phishing, good old social engineering—you name it, we've seen it. Its relentless Fighting fraud is where we invest most, with 30% of our headcount dedicated to compliance and fraud related work. Millions of EUR in costs, tooling, reimbursements—it's an ex...

/regulation /crime Transaction Fraud Systems and Analysis

/crime

Research

Event Report

The US Instant Payments Landscape: Navigating Growth and Challenges

The increasing demand for instant payment solutions is a key trend driving the adoption of faster payments. This webinar report explores what is holding instant payments back in the US.  In the US, real-time payments (RTP) have grown significantly since The Clearing House introduced them in 2017. Currently, the RTP network covers approximately 70% of customer accounts in the US, with transaction volumes and values rising dramatically. The Federal Reserve’s FedNow service, launched in mid-2023, has also contributed to this growth, processing a substantial number of payments in its initial quarters. These networks provide low-cost, efficient payment solutions that are gaining popularity for both consumer and business transactions.  Despite this progress, challenges remain in the adoption of faster payments. Interoperability between different payment systems and networks is a primary issue. While domestic instant payments are becoming more common, cross-border instant payments face obstacles due to the complexity of multi-currency transactions and varying regulations across countries. Additionally, the regulatory environment in the US does not mandate the adoption of faster payments, which can slow down the pace of implementation compared to other markets with regulatory mandates.  This report highlights the key takeaways of a Finextra webinar, hosted for the PREDICT 2025 campaign, by a panel of industry experts. It aims to answer:  What is holding Faster Payments back in the US and how much progress can be attributed to open banking and the ISO 20022 standard? Which applications of Faster Payments in the UK are transferrable to the US? With RtP and FedNow, how much choice is too much choice? What evidence is there that the financial services industry is at a tipping point and technology must be leveraged to ramp up adoption?

217 downloads

White Paper

Confirmation of Payee progress and APP fraud mitigation: Where are we now?

This report compares Confirmation of Payee progress and APP fraud mitigation across EMEA, APAC and North America, and features expert commentary from AccessPay, Bottomline, Finastra and NatWest.  APP fraud losses are expected to double across EMEA, APAC and North America, and legislation mandating CoP on a national or regional basis must be established across the globe. It is estimated that APP fraud losses in the UK, India and the UK will hit $5.25 billion, with a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 21% across the 2022-2026 period, according to an ACI Worldwide and GlobalData report.  Action must be taken, and if regulations are not put in place, financial institutions and PSPs must ensure they are leveraging technology solutions to bolster verification mechanisms themselves. Striking the balance between protecting the end customers, adding minimal friction to processes, and assessing fraud prevention procedures will be a cumbersome, yet important, project.  This Finextra report, produced in association with LexisNexis® Risk Solutions, explores how to meet that need, and:  The state of play for APP fraud and misdirected payment fraud across EMEA, APAC, and North America;  How success stories in EMEA will set the trend for other regions;  The impact non-CoP initiation in APAC will have on international payments; and  What the future holds for technology solutions that can detect account activity in North America. 

417 downloads

Event Report

Risk-based authentication: Enhancing security and user experience in fraud prevention

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, the importance of robust cross-channel authentication cannot be overstated. As businesses and consumers increasingly interact across multiple platforms, ensuring secure and seamless authentication processes is paramount.  Online platforms have become integral to modern financial activities, which necessitates secure and seamless transactions, backed up by robust authentication mechanisms. Risk-based authentication offers a dynamic security approach, balancing user convenience with stringent fraud prevention.  The integration of cross-channel data and advanced technologies like machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) is vital, as well as access and understanding of data. High-quality data is the cornerstone of effective fraud prevention and detection, which is why organisations must invest in robust data engineering practices to ensure collected data is accurate and well-labelled.  This investment enables the development of sophisticated models to better identify and prevent fraudulent activities. Prioritising data quality enhances fraud prevention strategies, protecting businesses and their customers from potential threats.  So how can organisations holistically address risk-based authentication in a dynamic world? This webinar report summarises the discussion of a Finextra webinar, hosted in association with Mastercard, and explores:  Risk-based authentication in fraud prevention;  Adapting fraud prevention to evolving threats;  Advanced authentication strategies for corporate fraud prevention;  Digital IDs, channels, and exclusion. 

184 downloads

/crime

FinextraTV

Fighting Fraud with Form3: The Importance of Inbound Transaction Screening

In Part 2 of this series, FinextraTV and Chris Oakley, Head of Fraud, Form3, highlights an upcoming substantial shift in the sector where due to incoming regulations from the PSR in the UK and PSD3 across the European Union, banks will have to double down on their focus on the risk associated with receiving a payment, not only sending a payment as has been the case historically. With current fraud screening methods built for outbound payments, after these regulations are mandated, receiving banks and sending banks will be forced to split liability for fraud and reimburse victims due to the PSR. This dichotomy must also lead to changes in the way that money mules are detected, which is usually also conducted retrospectively - where this convergence of fraud mitigation and anti-money laundering happens, risks need to be managed in real-time and a wider single view of the customer will be of paramount importance.

/crime

Long reads

Hamish Monk

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

What is APP reimbursement?

In October 2024, the Authorised Push Payment (APP) victim reimbursement scheme came into effect, under rules from the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR). The scheme means that Payment service providers (PSPs) are obliged to reimburse victims of APP fraud, up to £85,000 – and PSR asks that the value of reimbursement be split 50/50 between the sending...

Madhvi Sonia

Madhvi Sonia Head of Content at Finextra

Trade-based financial crime: Criminal activity, complex supply chains, and coverage

The Canadian Department of Finance revealed in November 2024 that they would be requesting changes to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorism Financing Act (PCMLTFA) so that it could “continuously monitor and adapt to new risks and threats”. Similar initiatives are being implemented in a number of countries as regulators realise the...

Michele Centemero

Michele Centemero EVP Services Europe at Mastercard

Cybercrime landscape in 2025: Building a secure digital future

As we step into 2025, the digital landscape continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace, unlocking opportunities for innovation, connection, and growth. Yet, alongside these advancements, the need for robust cybersecurity has become more critical than ever. Cybercriminals are adapting quickly, using emerging technologies like artificial intellige...