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

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Expert opinions

Nick Green

Nick Green Director at Purple Patch Broking Ltd

The future of credit data: Will AI reduce bureau dependency?

Lenders have traditionally turned to credit bureau data to assess affordability and risk—but that reliance is starting to change. AI-powered models are now delivering real-time, predictive insights that offer far more than static bureau scores. And with alternative data sources gaining traction, credit providers are under pressure to reassess how ...

/retail /crime Banking

Devendra Singh Parmar

Devendra Singh Parmar Independent Researcher

Banking 2030: The Role of Autonomous AI Agents in Fraud and Risk

As the financial services industry continues to undergo rapid digital transformation, the landscape of banking is set to look dramatically different by 2030. One of the most pivotal forces shaping this evolution is the emergence of autonomous AI agents—intelligent systems capable of operating independently to solve complex problems, adapt to new en...

/ai /crime Banking

Steve Marshall

Steve Marshall Director of Advisory Services, at FinScan

Tackling Financial Crime at Speed: How to Adapt to a Faster, More Complex Payments World

Demand for digital payments continues to hit new heights, sparking a wave of payment innovation to meet demand. Meanwhile, the shift to real-time payments means more transactions are settled faster than ever. This new payments landscape can deliver enormous benefits but also opens the door to new financial crime (FinCrime) risks. Regulated instit...

/payments /crime

Ekaterina Andreeva

Ekaterina Andreeva Software Engineer at Kriya Finance Limited

Combatting Rising Fraud in the B2B Sector. How Fintech Solutions Can Help.

Taking Serious Fraud Seriously According to The Global Fraud Report 2024, almost every 10th order of goods or services is fraudulent. 3.3% of all orders accepted by merchants were fraudulent. While 5.8% of all orders were rejected due to suspicion of fraud. According to the merchants who participated in the survey, the main reason for such a hig...

/startups /crime Fintech innovation and startups

Naina Rajgopalan

Naina Rajgopalan Content Head at Freo

Tips to Protect Cryptocurrency Assets

Cryptocurrency has emerged as a valuable and sought-after asset for millions of individuals globally. With the advent of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and numerous other digital currencies, investors are drawn to their growth potential. Nevertheless, like any valuable asset, cryptocurrencies must be secured to prevent loss. Sadly, the decentralized and digit...

/crypto /crime

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Trending

Nick Green

Nick Green Director at Purple Patch Broking Ltd

The future of credit data: Will AI reduce bureau dependency?

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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?

333 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. 

593 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. 

269 downloads

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FinextraTV

Higher Quality Consumer Experience & Quicker Fraud Detection

There were a number of key takeaways at Finextra’s inaugural ‘NextGenAI’ event, but one that excited all, in particular, were the opportunities for fraud prevention. In this interview at the FinextraTV event studio, Stathis Onasoglou, Field CTO, Google discussed the statistics and real life use cases for GenAI across fraud prevention, efficiency and revenue generation. Onasoglou explains how as technology continues to develop, it increases our ability to detect fraud earlier and faster, as well as enhancing the customer experience.

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Long reads

Pallavi Kapale

Pallavi Kapale Senior Financial Crime Officer (2LOD) at Bank of China (UK) Limited

Love, lies, and laundering: Unmasking the ‘pig butchering scam’ and how banks can fight back

According to the Council of Foreign Relations, numerous criminal organisations, primarily originating from China, have established sophisticated cyber centers in Southeast Asia that are specifically dedicated to conduct fraudulent activities. These call centers carry out a form of fraud known as ‘pig butchering’, combination of romance and invest...

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...