A new survey of 100 fraud-management, anti-money laundering (AML) and compliance team leaders at banks in Singapore depicts a concerning picture of the state of fraud in the country. Nine in 10 (91%) of those surveyed say fraud attempts at their institution are increasing, while 75% report increasing fraud losses, exceeding both the regional average (67%) and the global one (60%).
“Singapore is one of just three of the 12 countries we surveyed where a majority of respondents rank concern over the financial risk of fraud and scams as greater than their concern about the reputational impact posed by fraud and scams,” said Thomas Peacock, BioCatch Director of Global Fraud Intelligence. “This is especially pronounced among those respondents working in fraud roles, more than three-quarters of whom identify financial losses as their primary concern.”
The survey was commissioned by BioCatch, which prevents fraud and financial crime by recognising patterns in human behaviour. More than half of those surveyed in Singapore named social engineering scams as one of the most common attacks in the country (more than any other fraud type). Those working in compliance ranked social engineering as the top threat.
“The industry’s next challenge is building and deploying defences that can distinguish between a genuine customer acting independently and one being manipulated by a criminal,” said Subhashish Bose, BioCatch Global Advisory Director. “That is where behavioural, device and network intelligence come into play, persistently and consistently evaluating a user’s intent throughout every millisecond of every digital banking transaction.”
Other key findings:
- Conservative reimbursement practices: Just 27% of Singaporean respondents say their institution reimburses more than half of scam-related losses, well below the global average of 44%. Similarly, just 1% of respondents say their bank reimburses between 76% and 100% of scam losses — the second-lowest rate among all countries surveyed.
- Behavioural biometrics a priority: While 36% of Singaporean respondents say their bank has already deployed behavioural solutions, 75% of those whose institution has not yet adopted this technology say their bank is actively evaluating behavioural biometrics for the future. It is worth noting, however, that not all behaviour-based solutions are created equal, as we see reflected in rising fraud attempts and fraud losses in Singapore.
- FAST and PayNow preparation varies: While 95% of those surveyed in Singapore believe their bank is at least mostly prepared for new Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) requirements for FAST and PayNow, just 14% of fraud professionals believe their organisation is fully prepared.
