GOVERNMENT-COORDINATED ACTION NEEDED AS FRAUD LOSSES RISE BY 30 PER CENT

UK Finance today releases its latest fraud report covering the first half of 2021. This report shows the scale of fraud taking place as well as demonstrating how criminals have shifted their focus to exploit weaknesses outside the banking system.

In total £753.9 million was stolen through fraud, an increase of 30 per cent compared to the same period last year. Unauthorised fraud losses were £398.6 million, an increase of 7 per cent. The banking and finance industry prevented a further £736 million of attempted unauthorised fraud which means that £6.49 in every £10 of attempted unauthorised fraud was blocked. Authorised push payment fraud losses were £355.3 million, an increase of 71 per cent.

Katy Worobec, Managing Director of Economic Crime at UK Finance, said:

?Our latest figures show the sheer scale of fraud taking place in the UK and highlight clearly the need for coordinated action to address this threat. The banking and finance industry invests billions in advanced systems to try and stop fraud happening in the first place, but criminals are exploiting weaknesses outside of banks? control to trick customers into making payments directly to them.

?This is why we are calling for coordinated action and increased efforts from government and other sectors to tackle what is now a national security threat.

?We recently announced that major technology companies are donating $1m of advertising to raise awareness of the Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign on their platforms which is an important step in helping to raise awareness among consumers of the threat.

?Criminals continue to target customers with a variety of scams, often via online platforms, and it is only through coordinated action that we will be able to really make progress in addressing the problem.?

Read the full UK Finance press release here.

BRITISH BUSINESS BANK SEEKS MORE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUNDS

The British Business Bank (BBB) will ask for extra money from the chancellor in the autumn spending review to support further regional development and to extend the start-up loan programme (Financial Times).

Meanwhile, the BBB reported a gain on its investment assets of £223 million this year, up from a loss of £3 million last year, largely due to rapid growth in the value of equity stakes in its portfolio. This contributed to a pre-tax profit of £293.5 million, compared with a loss of £2.1 million in the previous year, the bank's annual report shows (The Times).

NEWS IN BRIEF

Ministers are considering ways to cut energy bills for the poorest households as gas prices rise, according to government sources (The Guardian).

The UK government has indicated it is interested in joining the North American free-trade pact, which consists of Mexico, Canada and the United States (The Times).

Economists say official coronavirus furlough figures may overstate the number of people still reliant on government wage subsidies and that the end of the scheme will not solve UK labour shortages (Financial Times).

Inflation will last longer and rise higher in the UK than most other advanced economies, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has said (The Times).

LATEST BLOGS

Matthew Davies, Director, Invoice Finance and Asset Based Lending, UK Finance discusses the 2021 edition of the World Factoring Yearbook (WFY) which features contributions from UK Finance.