Bottomline Debunks Payment Myths as it Highlights Banks’ Experiences With Fraud in Survey

Bottomline and Strategic Treasurer have released a global survey which highlights findings of corporate and banking experiences with fraud, concerning exposure risks, fraud prevention and securing data. This year marks the eighth annual survey between the two firms, whose research partnership also includes the annual B2B Payments Survey.

The Bottomline 2023 Treasury Fraud & Controls Survey showcases an ongoing need for protection against fraud. Seventy-three per cent of banks and corporates claim to have been impacted by fraud in the past year. Further. 53 per cent of whom indicate that they are in a better position to battle fraud when compared to last year.

The survey demonstrates year over year the top fraud attempts on businesses come from business email compromise (BEC) and social engineering. This year, respondents indicated that payment diversions also contributed to fraud attempts.

A significant portion of respondents indicated that the reliance on remote work increased their risk of fraud. Sixty-four per cent pointed towards BEC, 39 per cent to data theft and 38 per cent to external fraud. At the same time, 41 per cent of companies indicate that their requirements for security have grown. Still, only three out of seven firms run financial impact analyses where they evaluate the costs of fraud and the benefits of adding security.

Preventing fraud

We expect the spend on security to remain strong as we move through 2023. Thirty per cent of companies are spending more on fraud prevention, detection and controls than in previous years. The use of network visualisation and analytics to help investigate financial crimes is still a developing technology. Banks are leading the charge in this investment, with most banks (55 per cent) considering this, while only 11 per cent of corporates are doing the same.

The survey also indicates that centralised fraud investigation groups are becoming standard practice. Further buoyed by plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to fight sophisticated payments fraud.

Debunking payment myths

“We have seen banks and corporates embrace the need for widespread security system adoption across the ecosystem over the last few years. This year, the survey indicates treasurers are actively engaged and making a significant effort to implement fraud detection and prevention controls,” said Omri Kletter, global VP of product strategy, cyber fraud and risk management at Bottomline.

“This is encouraging given the growing concerns of internal and external threat levels organisations are experiencing. With the expansion of payment systems such as real-time payments, it is now crucial that corporates lean on their banks for guidance.

“Many companies still equate faster payments to elevated risk levels, with top concerns being irrevocability and speed of transactions. Bottomline continues to work with corporates and banks to debunk these myths and help customers prevent fraud across their payment ecosystems,” he added.

“Poor protection of the custody of sensitive payment files across a company’s network remains a massive exposure. Only 38 per cent of companies maintain a full audit trail of payment files across their network. Often, these files are unencrypted and un-hashed, exposing them to easy compromise and redirection of payments,” warns Craig Jeffery, managing partner and chief researcher at Strategic Treasurer.