The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said it is looking for a ‘significant number’ of tech experts as it looks to invest in data usage to prevent online fraud.
According to Computer Weekly, as part of a heavy investment in data, the regulator wants to hire people with expertise in AI, analytics and data science as well as cloud engineering and data technology.
The publication highlighted that around 100,000 websites are scanned by the FCA every day to identify possible scams. Between May 2021 and April 2022, the FCA added 1,966 possible scams to its consumer warning list.
The FCA also uses advanced analytics and new data sources to identify inappropriate financial adverts. The regulator has also recently introduced a sanctions-screening tool to support the monitoring of organisations or individuals that have been sanctioned.
FCA chief data, information and intelligence officer Jessica Rusu said, “Better use of data means we can be more proactive and find and stop harm faster. We are continuing to improve our data, technology and capabilities to act decisively in consumers’ interests, while making it easier for firms to report to us.”
Passfort head Alex Richter added, “The announcement by the FCA that they are seeking more tech experts in the fight against fraud is a positive sign that financial regulators are fully embracing the use of technology in the constant battle to combat fraud. We’re not talking about small numbers of transactions that need to be monitored. Institutions can be tasked with thousands of activities to analyse in the fight against fraud on any given day. The use of automated technology and perpetual KYC policies to prevent online financial misconduct is absolutely crucial to enable effective monitoring such as monitoring sanctions lists.
“Artificial intelligence, data analytics and data science are three areas of technology that have huge potential benefits in beating financial crime but are yet to secure mainstream use. In the coming years, these technologies will revolutionise the financial regulation and compliance industry, which significantly improve the odds of combating ever-growing and increasingly more complex online fraud.”
The FCA recently asked lenders to help consumers deal with the cost-of-living crisis as consumers continue to bear the brunt.
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