The UK and the Nordics Buck Trend of Fraud Increases

The ‘return to normal’ from the pandemic in 2021 was uneven across the continent due to variances in vaccine rollout, resurgence of Covid infections, and policies regarding retail, travel and tourism. Only four countries improved their card fraud performance in 2021, which is a great achievement within the context of such economic uncertainty. The majority of countries have either remained stable or experienced increases in losses. The most notable of these are Portugal and the Netherlands, both with incremental losses exceeding +15%. 

The United Kingdom and the Nordic region continue to lead Europe both in terms of digital transformation and fraud loss reduction, with Denmark and Sweden achieving the highest percentage decreases in losses. The UK reduced card fraud losses by an impressive £49.2 M. 

Payment fraud on digital channels emerged as the primary fraud threat within many countries, overtaking card fraud losses. We expect that Central and Eastern Europe could see similar trends in the coming years as more payment providers and real-time payment platforms are introduced across the region.