Introducing AccessPay’s Fraud & Error Prevention Suite
A recent report from UK Finance has uncovered that over £1.2 billion was stolen from UK businesses in 2022 alone. The report from UK Finance cited that their “data also makes clear just how much fraud emanates from online banking platforms”.
Our eBook The CFO & Cybersecurity also found that 95% of cyber security breaches are because of human error and manual data entry. A staggering number, given these mistakes could be easily avoided with the correct technology and removal of manual processes. Whilst managing finances manually through online banking portals is deemed ‘efficient’ and ‘secure’ it’s in fact fraught with issues.
Giving one individual complete access to a company’s bank portal means they’ll have full control over the business’s financial data. This makes it almost impossible to audit activity and it also increases the risk of fraud, theft and other malicious activities such as hacking, identity theft and phishing. If you want to dig deeper into the risks of manual banking processes, read our latest eBook.
Improving operational resilience
Considering the need to stay operationally resilient in the current economic climate, and with increasing regulatory measures to comply with, there is a compelling case for finance professionals to put the prevention of payment fraud and error at the top of their priority list.
Whilst the first step is automating typically manual processes, there is also a huge focus for businesses to implement robust payment controls and advanced auditing and reporting to better protect their organisation from the devastating impacts of financial fraud and human error.
This is why we have built our new Fraud & Error Prevention Suite. Embedded within the AccessPay platform; it further safeguards the integrity of businesses’ accounts, no matter the size or complexity of their banking operations.
If you want to find out more about how the platform automates payments and collections, you can do so here.
Why is fraud and error prevention so important?
Payment fraud prevention is a critical concern for businesses of all sizes and complexity – however, multi-banked organisations are increasingly becoming a target.
Manually processing large volumes of financial data in complex back-office systems (with potentially multiple stakeholders involved) can render organisations particularly vulnerable to fraudulent activity.
Fraudsters look for loopholes in financial processes such as a manual file transfer process, limited payment controls and unsecured access to bank portals. As these are all traditional and widespread methods of business banking, many finance leaders are now looking for technology to support them in reducing errors and risk mitigation.
In fact, our Drive to Digital Report discovered that 58% of businesses are citing technology adoption as a key driver to improve their finance operations, closely followed with 45% highlighting regulatory compliance & risk mitigation as a key area of focus.
Supporting Audits and Regulatory Compliance
Government regulations such as the FCA/PRA’s Operational Resilience Assessment and the long-awaited UK SOx audit mandate that organisations have robust internal controls in place to prevent fraudulent activity and reduce the ‘people risk’ element associated with manual processes.
Regulatory bodies also require accurate and transparent financial reporting to ensure organisations operating in an ethical and legal manner; another critical compliance box that needs to be ticked. Accurate reporting also provides valuable insights into financial decisions and flags any future financial risks.
By implementing robust fraud and error prevention measures (through removing manual process where possible and implementing better payment controls), organisations can minimize risks, and better protect their finances and customer assets. They’ll also benefit from accurate reports that can be standardised to comply with regulatory standards.
As AccessPay aided our Operational Resilience assessment, this became one of the main drivers why we went out to tender in the first place. We see AccessPay as a key partner to our overall Operational Resilience.
Head of Change & Procurement, Darlington Building Society
Introducing AccessPay’s Fraud & Error Prevention Suite
Our new Fraud & Error Prevention Suite offers advanced payment fraud prevention solutions designed to streamline payment processes, reduce manual intervention, limit human error, and improve regulatory compliance.
Payment Screening
Our premium Payment Screening feature harnesses the power of our automation and AI engine to flag any issues that look
suspicious within a company’s payment files. It uses a set of 6 pre-defined rules which can be customised to build a profile of irregular and regular activity for your organisation.
Confirmation of Payee & Sanctions Screening
Further security features Confirmation of Payee and Sanctions Screening are being added to the Fraud & Error prevention suite to ensure only verified payments are made.
Confirmation of Payee (CoP) will verify the payee’s name provided in a payment instruction, ensuring it matches the name of the account holder. There are four potential outcomes of the checking service: Match, Close match, No match (i. e. the name is wrong), and Unavailable, which gives customers control on what to do with the results provided for each check.
Sanctions Screening involves checking individuals, entities, or transactions against a government-issued list of restricted or sanctioned parties to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, and other illicit activities. By comparing names, aliases, addresses, and other identifying information against sanctions lists, potential matches are flagged, allowing businesses to mitigate the risk of engaging in prohibited transactions and avoid penalties or more severe legal consequences.
CoP and Sanctions Screening aims to prevent fraudulent payments and reduce the risk of accidental misdirection of funds.
With AccessPay’s Fraud & Error Prevention Suite, businesses protect themselves from potential losses, legal liabilities, and reputational damage.
The suite provides solutions for complicated financial interactions that need secure and efficient processing, making it an ideal choice for businesses looking to prioritize payment fraud prevention through the adoption of technology.
If payment fraud prevention isn’t yet at the top of your priority list, it should be.
