UK Government pushed to create National Anti-Fraud Centre

Innovate Finance, a UK industry body, has unveiled a blueprint to optimise the region's approach to managing fraud, with the company urging the Government to prioritise the establishment of a National Anti-Fraud Centre. 

Innovate Finance is also pushing ministers to support cross-sector data sharing and common liability to manage the significant difficulties posed by payment fraud. The industry body’s plan, ‘A Technology Strategy to Smash Fraud’, focuses on substantially minimising fraud in the UK by 2028 and ensuring that the region is safe when it comes to leveraging digital finance. Additionally, the strategy integrated a data-sharing approach across sectors, regulators, and law enforcement industry to industrialise tech to identify and prevent fraud, as well as to allow finance companies to gain access to utilise solutions.

Furthermore, among the key points covered by the plan, Innovative Finance included shared liability for social media and telecommunications platforms for fraud originating on their platforms and networks, as well as solidifying the Online Safety Act.

Mitigating payment fraud in the UK

Commenting on the initiative, representatives from Innovate Finance mentioned that, considering the scale of the threat that consumers and businesses face, organisations and regulatory bodies need a more collaborative, targeted, and effective plan that can mitigate fraud in the UK. The strategy compiled by the company aims to showcase how the sector can leverage technology through data sharing to scale collaboration between industry and law enforcement.

Moreover, Innovate Finance underlined that a National Anti-Fraud Centre could connect and industrialise the initiatives in the fraud data sharing space and ensure that they can be accessed by companies, regardless of their size, as opposed to a focus on larger enterprises. Additionally, the plan includes the launch of new shared liability rules to ensure big tech, social media, and telecommunications companies can combat fraud conducted on their platforms. The company also highlighted the need to address authorised push payment (APP) fraud by amending the Online Safety Act 2023 and rolling out a reporting framework, allowing cross-country data sharing and analysis, creating a fraud origination redress fund, developing a distribution mechanism, and putting in place a dispute resolution process. Innovate Finance’s strategy could solidify the UK’s international competitiveness, making it a safer place to invest.