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- UK Regulator Cracks Down On Finfluencers
- Swift To Launch AI-Powered Fraud Defence For Cross-Border Payments
- Portuguese Parliament Enacts New Law On Payment Fees
- ECB Launches Public Consultation On Payment System Oversight Changes
- G7 Wants Urgent Action On Quantum Computing Risks In Financial Sector
- Commonwealth Bank Breaks Anti-Spam Rules, Pays A$7.5m
- APP Fraud Down, CNP Fraud Up, Latest UK Finance Stats Reveal
- Klarna Steps In Following Demise Of Apple Pay Later
UK Regulator Cracks Down On Finfluencers
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is taking action against so-called "finfluencers" it believes may be illegally promoting financial services on social media firms such as TikTok and Instagram.
Twenty influencers are being interviewed under caution as part of the regulator's efforts to clamp down on unlawful promotions.
In addition, the FCA has issued 38 alerts against social media accounts suspected of making illegal financial promotions.
"Finfluencers are trusted by the people who follow them, often young and potentially vulnerable people attracted to the lifestyle they flaunt," said Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA.
"Finfluencers need to check the products they promote to ensure they are not breaking the law and putting their followers' livelihoods and life savings at risk."
The FCA intervention comes after it has already taken action against nine individuals and finfluencers for promoting an unauthorised trading scheme.
Swift To Launch AI-Powered Fraud Defence For Cross-Border Payments
Swift has announced that it is rolling out a new AI-powered anomaly detection tool that will help financial institutions identify and prevent fraud in cross-border payments.
Following a successful pilot with financial institutions in Europe, Asia and North America, the tool is set to be available from January 2025 onwards.
The new tool builds on Swift’s existing Payment Controls Service, drawing on pseudonymised data from billions of transactions to identify and flag suspicious activity in real time.
Since February this year, Swift has been working with financial institutions to explore how federated learning, combined with privacy-enhancing technologies, could enable market participants to share information without revealing their proprietary data.
The group has so far developed a number of additional fraud detection use cases which are set to be tested in a sandbox environment.
Portuguese Parliament Enacts New Law On Payment Fees
The Portuguese parliament has approved Decree-Law No. 72/2024, amending previous legislation that will mean a more interventionist approach to payment services fees.
Published on October 16, 2024, the law builds on Decree-Law No. 3/2010, which prohibits fees for payment services and ATM transactions.
A key update introduced in the legislation mandates a uniform transaction commission of 0.2 percent for both debit card payments and instant transfers, extending equal customer protection rights to users of third-party payment apps.
ECB Launches Public Consultation On Payment System Oversight Changes
The European Central Bank (ECB) has launched a new public consultation on proposed revisions to the oversight requirements for systemically important payment systems (SIPS).
The updates follow a year-long review of the existing regulation, which was initially adopted in 2014.
Key changes include a revised definition of SIPS operators, allowing euro area branches of non-euro area entities to be identified as SIPS operators.
New governance requirements, including the mandatory establishment of risk committees, are also proposed, and the revisions also introduce new articles on cyber risk and outsourcing management.
The consultation period will run until November 29, 2024, inviting feedback from market participants.
G7 Wants Urgent Action On Quantum Computing Risks In Financial Sector
The G7 Cyber Expert Group, co-chaired by the US Department of the Treasury and the Bank of England, has issued new guidance urging financial authorities to prepare for cybersecurity threats posed by quantum computing.
The group has warned that quantum computers, once fully developed, could break current encryption standards, jeopardising financial data and system security.
Although such capabilities may still be a decade away, the G7 has emphasised the need for immediate action, stating that financial institutions need to assess quantum computing risks and start planning for quantum-resilient technologies to safeguard future and historical data.
The G7 group has urged in its joint statement that financial entities work to understand the risks, develop mitigation strategies and adopt the necessary technology to secure the financial system against emerging quantum threats.
Commonwealth Bank Breaks Anti-Spam Rules, Pays A$7.5m
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has paid a A$7.5m ($5m) penalty for sending more than 170m marketing emails that did not comply with Australia’s anti-spam laws.
An investigation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found that, between 2022 and 2024, CBA sent 170m emails that did not include an option to unsubscribe.
Moreover, nearly 35m of these emails were sent to customers who either had not consented to receive them or had previously withdrawn their consent.
This is CBA’s second major breach of the anti-spam rules, after it paid a A$3.5m ($2.3m) penalty in May 2023 for sending 65m emails without an option to unsubscribe.
“The ACMA took action against CBA just last year for not delivering on their customers’ rights to unsubscribe from marketing messages,” said ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin.
“We have now had to take further action after this new investigation found that CBA had incorrectly classified millions of messages as non-commercial.”
APP Fraud Down, CNP Fraud Up, Latest UK Finance Stats Reveal
UK Finance has released its Half Year Fraud Report for 2024, revealing that £571m was stolen through unauthorised and authorised fraud in the first six months of the year. This marks a 1.5 percent decrease compared with the same period in 2023.
Authorised push payment (APP) fraud losses decreased by 11 percent to £213m, with significant drops in purchase scams, romance scams and investment scams.
However, online platforms and telecommunications continue to drive APP fraud, with 72 percent of cases starting online.
Unauthorised fraud losses across payment cards, remote banking and cheques rose by 5 percent, totalling £358m, while card-not-present (CNP) fraud saw a 26 percent spike.
Ben Donaldson, managing director of economic crime at UK Finance, said the fight against fraud cannot be won by the financial services industry alone.
"There have been some improvements made by other sectors, but their actions don’t yet fully match the scale of the problem, and more needs to be done to prevent fraudsters exploiting these platforms and networks," he said.
Klarna Steps In Following Demise Of Apple Pay Later
Klarna has announced that its buy now, pay later (BNPL) service is now available to Apple Pay users in the US and UK when checking out online or in-app.
The BNPL firm also said it will launch within Apple Pay in Canada in the “coming months”.
Klarna will appear in "Other Cards & Pay Later Options" when checking out on Apple Pay with an iPhone or iPad.
The move follows the launch and swift withdrawal of Apple’s own BNPL service, Apple Pay Later.
As covered by Vixio, Apple Pay Later was discontinued in June this year, less than 12 months after its full launch.
One of the reasons given was that Apple had decided to pursue partnerships with other BNPL firms, instead of offering BNPL services directly.
