Risk horizon: Readiness in an evolving landscape

• Fraud threats are growing in sophistication. Businesses must evolve their defences to match the pace of AI-enhanced scams and global fraud attempts.
• Global and real-time payments bring new risk dimensions. The faster and broader your payment networks, the stronger your verification and fraud monitoring need to be.
• Readiness requires a layered strategy. From behavioural analytics to multi-factor verification, organisations must take a full-lifecycle approach to risk management.

Attacks and attempts aimed at gaining access to accounts or funds are ever changing. With each new year, new preventive measure, and solution; fraudsters update their approach. The world of fraud is not stagnant but constantly evolving, driven by advancements in technology and the creativity of malicious actors. As organisations implement sophisticated security solutions, fraudsters simultaneously develop new tactics to bypass these defences. This ongoing battle underscores the importance of staying vigilant, continuously updating security protocols, and leveraging the latest technologies to anticipate and counteract emerging threats.

By understanding and identifying the dynamic nature of fraud, businesses can better protect themselves from potential risks. For 2025, key trends are beginning to emerge as it relates to attacks and risks. Here are the key trends in the payment space you must be aware of and have solutions for:

With payment volumes projected to increase in 2027 to $250 trillion, mitigating risks is paramount. As businesses adopt faster payment systems and expand global transactions, they must address the increasing risk of fraud that comes with these innovations.

To learn more about APP and how AI will impact fraud attacks, read our Global App Fraud Whitepaper.

With fraudsters using more sophisticated techniques, companies will need to leverage AI, big data, and digital identities to build comprehensive, proactive fraud prevention strategies. Business Email Compromise (BEC) is ranked as the second most expensive crime in the US in 2023, accounting for $2.9 billion in reported losses. Add AI into the mix, and most experts expect a doubling of AI-powered impersonation attacks compared to last year.

As supply chains diversify, robust vendor management and real-time account verification will become crucial to prevent fraud in operations—not just during onboarding, but at any change event. In the first half of 2023 alone, the European Union and European Economic Area saw a total of $1.18 billion in fraudulent credit transfers originating from Payment Service Provider transactions (PSP).

As fraud continues to evolve, businesses must adopt a comprehensive, multi-layered approach that spans the entire customer and supplier lifecycle, integrating AI, big data, and continuous monitoring to effectively combat emerging threats. Sixty two percent of US based companies surveyed by LSEG in 2024 reported experiencing payment fraud attempts. These attempts span beyond just the first interaction or transactional engagement and must be met with impenetrable strategies to secure funds, maintain trust, and mitigate risks.

• Implement real-time verification of bank accounts to ensure customer and vendor details match before transactions are processed.
• Adopt multi-layered authentication. A single authentication method is a start, but layering security measures creates a stronger, more adaptive defence against increasingly sophisticated fraud tactics.
• Use behavioural pattern analysis to detect anomalies and prevent fraud. Instead of just profiling fraudsters, analyse behavioural data to identify legitimate, trustworthy customers and suppliers and keep bad actors out.
• Strengthen KYC/KYB compliance by pairing robust identity verification with behavioural analysis to build trust throughout the customer and supplier lifecycle.
• Leverage AI and machine learning for real-time monitoring, faster fraud detection, and enhanced security. These technologies can analyse vast amounts of data to detect and flag suspicious activities before they become threats. 

LSEG Risk Intelligence offers a powerful suite of solutions to help you confidently combat global bank accounts and identity fraud.

US Account Verification: Our US Account Verification Solutions suite (formerly known as GIACT) includes real-time bank account verification, ownership authentication, account velocity insights, and additional fraud and risk signals—all available via a single API. We offer extensive coverage of US consumer and business bank accounts and are a proud Nacha Preferred Partner in account validation, compliance, and risk and fraud prevention. 

Global Account Verification (GAV): Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud is on the rise, exploiting gaps in payment verification to divert funds. Our global solution provides real-time validation of bank accounts and their owners, enabling fast, frictionless and confident cross-border payments. Covering +25 countries globally, with more on the way, it reduces bank-to-bank payment fraud risk for Corporate Treasuries, Fintechs, Payment Service Providers and others involved in cross-border remittances. 

Global Identity Verification: Triangulate your bank account verification alongside our comprehensive identity verification data to ensure the entity you’re doing business with is a real business or person. Our solution draws on 400+ authoritative in-country data sources across 50+ countries to verify consumer and business identities in real-time. 

Sources:

https://www.lseg.com/content/dam/risk-intelligence/en_us/documents/brochures/lseg-trusted-payments-global-account-verification-brochure.pdf

https://www.lseg.com/en/insights/risk-intelligence/redefining-identity-the-power-of-reusable-digital-identities