The Big Picture On Fraud Prevention

With the rising complexity and volume of fraud - now making up 36% of all crime reported in England and Wales - fraud is on the regulator's mind. In a recent speech the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) looked at it's own role in preventing fraud and emphasised the importance of both public and private sectors working together to build robust anti-fraud strategies.

The FCA plays a significant role in helping to reduce financial crime. Taking a lead role as part of the UK Government’s Economic Crime Plan and Fraud Strategy, as well as a partner, supporting other agencies in the UK and abroad to tackle financial crime. Collaboration between financial institutions, regulators, and law enforcement is critical in fighting fraud, and enhancing these partnerships can create a more resilient system.

Key components of effective fraud prevention mentioned include:

• fostering a strong culture of collaboration and a collective effort to tackle fraud;

• sharing ideas, lessons learnt, exchanging data and intelligence for increased transparency;

• keeping up to date on the fast-evolving nature of fraud typologies and the development of emerging technologies for real-time fraud detection; and

• ensuring that organisations prioritise customer protection at all levels. 

Additionally, the FCA discussed how regulatory frameworks should evolve to keep pace with the rapidly changing fraud landscape. The need for clear, data-driven reporting and proactive risk assessments were stressed.

Overall, the speech underscores the FCA’s commitment to safeguarding consumers and markets through forward-thinking and collaborative fraud prevention measures.

If you would like more detail about the FCA's perspective, you can read the full speech on the FCA website.

---

If you need help thinking about your fraud risks, including support with developing your Financial Crime Business-Wide Risk Assessment, the team at Adempi is on hand to help.

Our training and eLearning offerings can also help with raising staff awareness on fraud, cybersecurity and many other compliance and financial crime areas.