ANNA – which supports more than 100k UK SMEs with its all-in-one business and tax app – is one of the first financial institutions in the UK to implement trail-blazing biometric ‘re-authentication’ procedures to stop criminals from using accounts they may have accessed illegally.
If someone tries to access an ANNA account on a mobile device that’s not the one the account was set up on, this triggers biometric re-authentication - usually a request to take a selfie - and given that the criminal’s face won’t match the original account owner’s, the account is immediately suspended.
To further boost security, ANNA has also added ongoing random biometric authentication checks that require a customer selfie. Whether fraudsters have scammed their way into someone’s account, snatched an unlocked phone, or are using a ‘mule’ account* to launder money, these new, industry-leading measures will mean that criminals are instantly blocked when they attempt to access the ANNA account.
Leven Li, ANNA’s Chief Compliance Officer, says, ‘ANNA was one of the first in the industry to start pushing these changes live and we continue to make updates and improvements. Our random biometric re-authentication programme went live this week and we expect that other financial institutions will likely follow our lead.
‘While these measures are mainly aimed at detecting accounts accessed and misused by criminals who have not been through our Know Your Customer process, there’s no friction at all for our regular customers. It’s just a quick selfie - which we are all used to doing - and it’s keeping our customers and their accounts much safer from day-to-day threats, like fraudsters trying to scam their way in or phone snatchers who try to access accounts by bypassing security protections.’
This is one of many ways in which ANNA has prepared for the Payment Systems Regulator’s new rules for reimbursing Authorised Push Payment fraud (aka APP, where someone is tricked into sending money to a fraudster who is posing as a genuine payee), which came into force in the UK on 7 October 2024.
The new rules mean that payment services providers (PSPs) like ANNA are legally required to reimburse eligible claims from customers who fall victim to APP fraud through faster payments and CHAPs payments, up to a maximum repayment limit. They may also charge an £100 excess for claims and can share reimbursement costs 50:50 between sending and receiving PSPs. They are also required to provide additional protection for vulnerable customers.
ANNA already has robust checks in place to ensure that potential customers are who they say they are. Only UK residents and UK businesses are allowed to open ANNA accounts, and ANNA uses national databases like CIFAs to protect our customers from fraud. Of course, fraudsters are constantly finding new ways to target peoples’ hard-earned money but ANNA is dedicated to working around the clock to stay one step ahead.