Financial Crime & Fraud


Top fintech stories this week – 20 May 2016

Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Android Pay now in the UK; Australia and Singapore are next Coming to a country near you… possibly. Vietnam’s Tien Phong Bank stops attempted fraud through Swift system Stop! In the name of the law. Sydney Stock Exchange […]

NICE’s robotic automation solution gets the Italian jobs

Italy’s Banca Popolare di Sondrio and Helpline have implemented NICE’s Robotic Automation solutions for loan approvals and credit card fraud prevention. Banca Popolare di Sondrio, which has 350 branches across the country, decided to implement NICE Robotics to speed up its online loan and credit approvals process. As a result, NICE says average handle time […]

Vietnam’s TienPhongBank stops attempted fraud through Swift system

Vietnam’s TienPhongBank (TPBank) says it has stopped an attempted wire fraud that involved the use of “fraudulent” Swift messages. The bank said in a statement late on Sunday (15 May), in response to inquiries from Reuters, that in Q4 2015 it “identified suspicious requests through fraudulent” Swift messages to transfer more than €1 million in […]

Swift warns of second new malware threat

Swift has warned its customers about a newly identified malware found at a “commercial bank”, which it has declined to identify. This latest development follows yesterday’s (12 May) news where Swift rejected the allegations made by Bangladesh Bank and Bangladesh Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials about the first cyber fraud scandal in February. Details […]

Swift quick to dismiss Bangladesh’s allegations over cyber fraud scandal

Swift has rejected the allegations made by Bangladesh Bank and Bangladesh Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials to Reuters about the cyber fraud scandal in February. A few months ago, hackers stole more than $100 million from the country’s foreign currency reserves. In the ensuing furore, the head of Bangladesh’s central bank, Atiur Rahman, resigned; […]

Capgemini joins forces with FICO for risk and fraud services

FICO, an analytics and decision management software provider, and tech consultancy firm Capgemini have teamed up to provide analytic solutions in financial services. The alliance will provide FICO’s risk and fraud management products through Capgemini’s consulting and integration services in North America. Anirban Bose, global head of banking and financial services, Capgemini, says “many of […]

NICE Actimize launches AML Essentials for mid-sized FIs

NICE Actimize hopes to muscle into the mid-tier banking sector with the launch of AML Essentials, an anti-money laundering cloud-based platform. It will be delivered on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. The solution offers transaction monitoring, CDD (customer due diligence) and KYC (know your customer), and watch list filtering to reporting and SAR (suspicious […]

Money 20/20 Europe: Collaborate not compete to defeat card fraud

Payment companies need to collaborate, not compete, when it comes to dealing with the threat of card fraud. At this morning’s (5 April) session, “Innovations in card not present fraud” at Money 20/20 in Copenhagen, a panel discussed the issue in a lively and quick chat. Present were moderator Andrew Jamieson, head of innovations, UL; […]

Typo spells confusion in $101m cyber bank heist

A $101 million cyber heist has central bank officials from Bangladesh to New York quarrelling over what may be one of the biggest and boldest bank raids in history, according to CNBC. Hackers allegedly breached the Bangladesh central bank’s security system and then pretended to be Bangladeshi officials to send a series of requests for […]

Equiniti acquires Risk Factor and KYCnet

Equiniti Group has completed the purchase of Risk Factor and KYCnet. The acquisitions are part of Equiniti’s strategy of buying specialist technology platforms to provide regulation driven services for its clients. Last year it bought Transglobal Payment Solutions, while back in 2012 it acquired investment system supplier Peterevans. It also purchased a UK-based lending software […]

A whistle-stop tour of the regulatory calendar

As financial institutions across the board gear up for 2016, the year ahead poses some notably regulatory challenges. Not least among these is the impending Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) from the European Commission; there will also be further progress on MiFID II. On 3 July this year, an event will take place which will mark […]

Chainalysis inks deal with Europol and raises $1.6m seed round

Chainalysis, a New York-based cyber security start-up, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) on collaborating to fight online crime. Chainalysis aims to change “negative headlines where digital currencies have been connected to fraud and cybercrime” and is tracking digital identities on the blockchain. The start-up says its software […]

MasterCard targets rising number of false declines

MasterCard has unveiled its MasterCard IQ series that uses real-time intelligence to tackle fraud and the increasing number of false declines. The plan is for cardholders and merchants to see a reduced number of transactions unnecessarily declined, while maintaining the “highest levels” of security. Javelin Strategy & Research estimates that one out of every six […]

EC to hit terrorism in its digital wallet

The European Commission (EC) has presented an action plan to fight the financing of terrorism, including targeted amendments to the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD) that was implemented in May 2015. These include an amendment to include a list of all compulsory checks financial institutions should carry out on financial flows from countries having strategic […]

Keeping file-based threats out of bank vaults

While mention of bank robberies will often conjure images of masked criminals and high-speed car chases, most modern instances of the crime are being conducted from behind computer screens. In addition to the lure of stealing cash, these criminals are going after banks for valuables such as the personal data of customers, details of mergers and acquisitions between companies and the private tax information of corporations, data is fast becoming an incredibly valuable commodity in its own right

One in five UK bank accounts hit by cybercrime

One in five UK consumers (21%) have had personal details stolen and their bank accounts used to buy goods and services as a result of a cyber security breach, according to new research from business advisory firm Deloitte.

Correspondent banking faces ‘existential crisis’ warns PwC

De-risking, motivated by short-term risk-reward calculations, should not be allowed to kill off one of the cornerstones of the global financial system. Rather than abandon correspondent banking relationships, banks should be thinking about investing in and automating their risk controls, according to a new whitepaper by PwC.

Lack of data in securities messages creates compliance issues

A lack of information in securities messages creates problems for financial institutions screening them for regulatory compliance. But if the audience in a session yesterday is representative, only around half of them are screening anyway.

The emerging threat of trade-based money laundering in trade finance

Money laundering is a global phenomenon, evident in many parts of the world. Techniques have ranged from simple bulk cash movements across borders to more sophisticated techniques hidden in trade transactions. As trade between the Middle East and the rest of the world continues to grow, the threat of trade based money laundering becomes more […]

Insurance and education should be weapons in fight against cyber-crime

The majority of businesses do not have cyber security insurance, with many not even aware such protection exists – and even those that do have insurance in place may find themselves at a loss if they don’t have the correct cover. The solution may be to mandate more data sharing and raise public awareness, according to speakers at a roundtable organised by software security company Kaspersky Lab.

Cyber attacks on the rise warns Gemalto

Data breaches are getting worse with 246 million records compromised by criminal activity in the first six months of 2015, according to new figures published by digital security company Gemalto. The numbers suggest cyber-crime will remain a top priority for banks for the foreseeable future.

ISSA sets out financial crime principles for securities

The International Securities Services Association adopted a set of compliance principles to address the “critical challenges” posed by financial crime. The new principles aim to establish “a clear global standard for the opening and maintenance of cross-border securities accounts”.

Android users most at risk of fraud warns survey

The rate of mobile fraud is highest on Android devices, according to new data from cyber security company Kount, with mobile fraud also outpacing that of online and in-store fraud for the first time this year. The data also shows that average transaction amounts on iOS mobile devices are greater than those made from Android devices.

Caught on the defensive: why the financial sector needs to reevaluate its approach to cyber risk

Contrary to popular belief, the financial sector is now far more aware and better prepared for cyber attacks. The Bank of England’s Financial Stability Report, issued 1 July, states that threat awareness has grown exponentially and the sector is leading efforts to combat cybercrime. Perhaps this isn’t surprising given 90% of large businesses across the sector had suffered a malicious attack over the past year. But what is worrying is that the financial sector is falling into a familiar trap: by focusing so much on defence, it has failed to make provisions for an effective recovery

‘Insidious’ client-side malware targets banks through customers

Banks are at risk from a new kind of ‘client side injected malware’ attack, in which attackers install malware on the customer’s device and use it as a base for injected ads, spyware scripts, unauthorised cookies and fake surveys designed to look like they are part of the bank’s website or app, but which actually steal a customer’s private information.

Europol: cash is still king – for criminals

More than 30% of all suspicious transaction reports in the European Union are triggered by the use of cash, according to Europol, with the €500 note – not widely used for payments – still in demand.

CBEST will help UK financial institutions lead in IT security

Banks will always be targeted by criminals and cyber attacks have become their most vulnerable attack surface. It isn’t simply about technology. It extends through people and process, and reaches from the central infrastructure all the way out to end users conducting online banking or financial transactions on laptops, tablets or smart phones. Because banks and financial firms have very large and sophisticated systems, this means that end-to-end security is notoriously difficult

Five common pitfalls of financial crime prevention

Financial services organisations can, and do, prevent many criminal acts through adequate controls, proper supervisory procedures, and sophisticated detection and incident management technology. However, there are a handful of shortcomings that derail the best preventive measures and result in negative news headlines and increased regulatory scrutiny for individual employees and entire institutions alike

Cyber security tops DTCC risk barometer

US post-trade utility the DTCC is reporting that almost half of the respondents in its most recent Systemic Risk Barometer Study cited cyber security as their top concern, making it the single largest fear and doubling its rating compared to just 12 months ago.

The road towards a better bank

The financial sector is a slow mover in innovation, however no single industry is leading the way in the Digital Identities economy. Banking is one sector that can take advantage of Digital Identities to better develop customer experience given the nature of the engagement and relationship between Banks and their customers. Banks fulfil a very […]

National velocity checking: the answer to MSB money laundering?

Anti-money laundering legislation cuts through the Gordian knot of bringing cases against companies at a stroke – it doesn’t require a ‘controlling mind’. In fact, it almost demands the opposite. A UK-wide system of velocity checking would go further in combating crime and protecting Money Services Businesses.

Italian Financial Police round up money-laundering gang

The Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza), supported by Europol, arrested 10 members of a transnational criminal group yesterday. The criminals, mainly Nigerian citizens, were involved in laundering the proceeds of online fraud, amounting to more than €2.5 million.

‘Hound of Hounslow’ highlights need for surveillance says Nasdaq

As greater convergence between asset classes and the unification of trading desks and trading strategies across multiple asset classes becomes more common, the opportunities for sophisticated market abuse may be on the rise. That may mean that the need for surveillance is greater than ever, according to Tony Sio, head of SmartsTrade Surveillance, exchange and regulators at Nasdaq.

DBS Bank Singapore overhauls anti-crime tools

Singapore’ DBS Bank has begun a major overhaul of its financial crime prevention strategy, as the bank seeks to upgrade its suspicious activity monitoring, due diligence and risk tools.