Google and Meta Join UK Banks in Data-Sharing Drive Before ‘Failure To Prevent Fraud’ Becomes a Crime

Key Takeaways

• A coalition of banks and tech companies pledged to share data to tackle fraud.
• The participation of firms like Amazon, Meta and Google reflects the multi-channel nature of contemporary fraud.
• More organizations are developing anti-fraud systems in preparation for changes to U.K. law.

Tech firms, including Google and Meta, have joined forces with the U.K.’s largest banks to tackle fraud by sharing more data.

The initiative preempts the new criminal offense of “failure to prevent fraud,” which will enter into force in September 2025.

Big Tech Joins Banking Alliance To Fight Fraud

On Monday, March 31, Stop Scams UK announced that over a dozen banks, technology companies and telecom operators have pledged to work together to share fraud intelligence.

Signatories to the agreement include Amazon, Barclays, BT, Google, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide, NatWest, Match Group, Meta, Monzo, Santander and Three.

Collaborating Beyond the Financial Sector

Efforts to share fraud data between financial institutions go back years. But the new initiative recognizes that fraudsters use multiple channels to target victims, including social media, communication tools and financial services.

“Financial institutions have long known that collaboration is a powerful defense. But social platforms and telcos are now critical players, too,” Ted Datta, Senior Director for Financial Crime Industry Practice at Moody’s, told CCN.

With new forms of fraud proliferating across the digital ecosystem, “access to data is essential” to help address risks, he added.

New Fraud Rules Imminent

As Datta pointed out, the new data-sharing pledge coincides with regulations introduced by the 2023 Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act.

That legislation created a new corporate criminal offense of “failure to prevent fraud” that will come into force later this year.

Under the new law, organizations that are found not to have “reasonable” fraud prevention measures in place could be liable for prosecution.

Crucially, the law doesn’t just apply to banks but to any large organization with an annual turnover of more than £36 million or a balance sheet of more than £18 million.

Because of this, Datta predicted that beyond financial institutions and Big Tech firms, “a wider range of organizations” will ultimately look to collaborate on anti-fraud initiatives.