Australian banks partner to combat scams

Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB, and ANZ, as well as 13 other Australian banks, have rolled out a new digital platform that will facilitate the quick reporting of fraudulent payments en route or transferred to another bank.

Owned and operated by the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange (AFCX), an independent body built and funded by Australian banks, the new Fraud Reporting Exchange (FRX) platform will help disrupt scammers by enabling faster and more targeted reporting of scam payments in real time, boosting the chances of recovering as much money as possible for scam victims.

“Given every minute can be crucial in disrupting scams, the launch of the FRX is a major development,” said Anna Bligh (pictured above), Australian Banking Association (ABA) CEO.  “It means more and more scammers are going to hit a brick wall and adds to the arsenal of anti-scam initiatives underway.  

“With 17 banks already on board or in the process of joining the FRX, banks are now better placed to jointly identify funds which have been fraudulently transferred, which should improve their ability to prevent any further losses to a customer.”   

A trial of the FRX platform has shown that the time to resolve most scam cases declined by more than half.   

David Pegley, AFCX managing director, said the new FRX platform will help enable a more streamlined approach to managing scams.    

“Thanks to the banking sector, and particularly the four major banks, this new platform is set to make an impact on scammers and can also be used to help to bring together banks and any other organisations involved in payments,” Pegley said.   

Bligh said it is critical that consumers report a fraudulent or scam payment to their bank ASAP.  

“The sooner that banks know about a fraud, the sooner they can take swift action to try to halt the payment before it gets to the scammers,” she said.   

Below are the key features of FRX: 

• Near real-time reporting of fraudulent transactions between member banks   
• The ability to, where possible, halt multiple fraudulent transactions taking place as part of the same scam   
• Shared intelligence between banks to assist with fraud and loss prevention efforts   
• A faster, more streamlined return of funds, where possible   
• Secure and tracked communications between member banks within the platform with agreed timeframes, reducing the need for multiple phone calls and emails between banks 

ABA members who have joined, or are in the process of joining, the fraud reporting exchange also included AMP, Bank Australia, BOQ, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, HSBC, ING, Macquarie, MyState, Rabobank, and Suncorp. Three Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA) banks are also in the process of joining the platform.   

What do you think about this new move? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.