In an authorised push payment (APP) scam, fraudsters typically trick their victim into sending money directly from their account to an account which the criminal controls. As the operator of the UK's retail payment systems, we cannot shy away from significant losses due to APP fraud. Quite the contrary, we must work with the banking and finance industry as a whole to tackle this growing menace head-on.

With this in mind, we have been working alongside UK Finance through the Enhanced Fraud Data (EFD) working group to develop our new ?logical data model? to help tackle APP fraud.

The model acts as a foundation for categorising relevant customer data that enables both the banks involved in processing a payment (the sending bank and receiving bank) to more quickly and easily identify a fraudulent transaction.

From foundation to stronghold

This common taxonomy for customer data categorisation is a significant step forward, but it is only the beginning in constructing a truly transformational standardised model, shared across infrastructures, that can adapt to the constantly evolving threat posed by APP fraud.

Work is already underway to scope the next phase, and we are keen to start demonstrating the efficacy of our model with a view to developing a common standard. To that end, we?ve published the first set of technical materials on Pay.UK's Standard Source, and are inviting the industry to review the progress we?ve made and consider the practical and technical implications to their business and operating models.

It is incumbent on all of us to support a shared, streamlined approach to data exchange on fraud, fit to meet this evolving threat. It is only by working together through a network-wide approach that we can harness the power of trustworthy data and build on the foundations we?ve laid. Together we can make the UK a stronghold in the fight against fraud.