UNITED KINGDOM Decrease in Fraud YoY

UK Posts the Region’s Best Overall Performance for Third Year

The UK has achieved the largest net reduction of the 18 countries in this report for the third year running, further reducing overall losses by £49.2M (upwards of €58M in relative value) despite threat levels on cards increasing by 32% in 2021. This achievement is a testament to banks’ approach to fraud prevention and dedication to continued investment in technology and analytics, and the development and retention of a highly skilled workforce. Throughout 2021, Payment Service Providers (PSPs) and merchants in the UK have undertaken a huge collaborative effort to roll out and ramp up Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) controls on ecommerce transactions in advance of a 2022 implementation deadline, and this extra layer of security is likely to have contributed to some of the reduction in UK CNP fraud losses.

The UK is an industry leader in both fraud management and customer enablement, and has championed the adoption of omnichannel customer communication strategies in partnership with fraud detection as a means of enabling a frictionless and efficient customer experience, especially within the card fraud management arena. By empowering customers to self-resolve low-value or no-loss cases, resources can be dedicated to cases of the highest severity.

However, as we have observed with its peers Denmark and Sweden, the downward trend in card fraud losses is mirrored by an upward trend in fraud across digital payment channels. The UK has been severely challenged with the rise of Authorised Push Payment fraud, with losses incurred as a result of scams now the top concern for UK institutions.

The UK continues to commit to the voluntary Contingent Reimbursement Model (the CRM Code), which is set out to protect customers who have been deceived by fraudsters. Such a customer-centric approach requires financial institutions to implement the very best systems and controls in order to enable the prevention of fraud across the enterprise.

FICO is proud to partner with the vast majority of banks in the UK. We are extremely excited to see these banks pave the way for others in the FICO^® Falcon^® Intelligence Network, by removing data silos and powering innovative decisions across the whole customer lifecycle to protect customers from digital fraud threats whilst maximising engagement, customer loyalty and new business opportunity.