More than £500m was stolen from customers of British banks in the first half of 2018, according to Industry group UK Finance. Whilst £145m of that was due to authorised push payment (APP) scams, £358m was lost due to fraudulent transactions made without account holders’ knowledge. With fraudsters becoming more sophisticated in their tactics, the banking industry has been investing millions in new technologies to replace their old antifraud systems.
Customers expect faster fraud detection and seamless resolutions from their banks. Puneet Taneja, Head of Operations from Intelenet Global Services comments: “To combat fraudsters who are becoming more digitally savvy and skilful in bypassing banks’ antifraud systems, banks are boosting their arsenal with extra talent and technology to stay on top of fraudulent activity in real time.
Using real-time anomaly techniques, banks can see an overwhelmingly impressive 92 percent reduction in fraud losses and in one case, a UK national bank saved £3.54m annually from credit and debit card fraud. Developing expertise in machine learning and predictive analytics to prevent, detect and investigate financial crimes allows banks to increase efficiency, reduce headcount in compliance and provide a better customer experience. This can result in a 30 percent reduction in complaints. How well a bank deals with a customer who has fallen victim to fraud could determine whether they choose to continue banking with them. Banks need to be seen as being on the side of their customers.”
