Bankloch

Fraud is no longer confined by borders. It has evolved into an international issue, with perpetrators often operating from different countries than their victims. Developed nations such as the US, UK and the rest of Western-Europe remain prime targets. Particularly in the UK, the combination of a large population and English-speaking residents makes it a lucrative hunting ground for fraudsters. Despite the advancements in fraud prevention tools, reported fraud continues to rise year after year, exposing significant vulnerabilities in the global financial ecosystem. Financial institutions have invested heavily in fraud detection and authentication measures, yielding some success. Account Takeover Fraud   has decreased thanks to multi-factor authentication (MFA), risk-based authentication and customer education campaigns that teach users to avoid sharing sensitive information. Authorized Push Payment (APP) Fraud , like invoice scams, is being reduced through initiatives such as "Ver...

  Already 2 years ago, I explored in my blog " The UPI Phenomenon: From Zero to 10 Billion " ( https://bankloch.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-upi-phenomenon-from-zero-to-10.html ) how India’s   Unified Payments Interface (UPI)   reshaped the digital payments landscape. UPI has grown into one of the world’s largest digital payment systems, processing over 18 billion transactions monthly and accounting for more than 83% of India’s digital transaction volume. Its success is unprecedented, driven largely by a unique feature:   zero cost . Merchants don’t pay to accept payments, and users don’t pay to send or receive money. This absence of fees has removed all barriers for users and merchants for joining the system. But this model requires also heavy subsidizing by the Indian government and as UPI further grows and expands internationally (UPI is already live in countries like the UAE, Singapore, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, France and Mauritius), cracks are beginning to show. It...

  Every now and then, I see posts on LinkedIn complaining about the platform’s shift from a strictly professional space to something that increasingly resembles a general social media feed like Facebook or X. Vacation photos, emotional milestones, and personal reflections now sit alongside company updates and career moves. While I understand the sentiment - I too prefer to maintain a certain boundary between my personal and professional life - the reality is more complex. The line between these worlds is no longer clear-cut. In fact, they’re more intertwined than ever. So the real question isn’t whether LinkedIn should “go back” to being purely professional. It’s whether this blurring of boundaries is a problem or a natural, perhaps even necessary, evolution. Ask any great communicator, and they’ll tell you:   the best presentations are stories, not slide decks . Humans have always passed down knowledge through storytelling - not because it’s efficient, but because it’s memora...

  Stablecoins are everywhere in the news and not just in crypto circles. Around the world, governments, financial institutions, and fintech innovators are actively exploring their use in payments. Just in the past few weeks, we’ve seen multiple announcements: Stripe & Paradigm   launching a new blockchain project for stablecoin payments. Ripple & BNY Mellon   securing custody for stablecoin reserves. Finastra & Circle   enabling stablecoin settlement in cross-border payments. Citi   exploring stablecoin payments. Visa   expanding support for stablecoin rails. Paxos and AllUnity   respectively deploying new USD- and Euro-backed tokens. US state of Wyoming   introducing its own USD-pegged stablecoin. JPYC Inc.   preparing to issue Japan’s first stablecoin. Hong Kong   announcing plans to issue its first stablecoin licenses in early 2026. The   Genius Act   offering a regulatory framework for stablecoins in the US. Thi...

  In my blog " The Missing Link in Fraud Prevention: Real-Time Customer Dialogue " ( https://bankloch.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-missing-link-in-fraud-prevention.html ) I argued for moving fraud checks earlier in the payment flow. Rather than waiting until a customer has signed and submitted a payment, banks should interact during the initiation phase. This not only allows for blocking fraudulent transactions sooner but also serves to educate customers in real time. With Authorized Push Payment (APP) fraud on the rise, early-stage interaction is a step in the right direction. But what if we could go even further? To truly understand how we can intervene more effectively, we need to break down a typical scam into four distinct stages: Stage 1   – The scam is underway, but no financial transaction has been initiated. Stage 2   – A payment is being initiated but not yet confirmed by the customer. Stage 3   – The payment is signed and submitted but not yet fully processed....