HKMA to step up measures to fight fraud

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) will launch a series of measures in response to receiving an uptick in bank fraud reports. 

The financial watchdog received 954 reports in the first nine months of the year, topping the 555 cases handled in the entire previous year. Among the cases, 70 percent were related to credit card transactions, with the remainder being remittances, payment transactions, and bank loans.

The HKMA on Thursday issued a notice to 28 retail banks, requiring them to provide adequate resources to ensure the banking industry cooperates in combating fraud in three areas - information sharing, transaction monitoring and customer warnings - are implemented as planned.

They also planned to implement a warning mechanism on the Faster Payment System (FPS) in the next two months to alert citizens of possible scamming accounts when transferring money via the platform.

More than 40 banks and operators of stored value facilities will join hands on information sharing of the warning system. 

In response to the decision to warn clients when high-risk accounts are detected rather than blocking transactions, HKMA stated that further study is required before action can be taken.

The Authority has also launched a real-time monitoring system to improve its ability to detect suspicious accounts. Currently, 28 retail banks have implemented real-time fraud monitoring in compliance with Hong Kong Monetary Authority standards.

In the future, the HKMA will demand banks to gradually submit more information to discover and monitor more suspect accounts and networks.