81% of European businesses say intelligence sharing is key in fraud battle

New research from GBG has revealed 81% of European businesses believe cross-sector collaboration and intelligence sharing is key to stemming the rising tide of fraudulent criminal activity. The findings are part of GBG’s new Global Fraud Report 2024 which surveyed businesses in the UK, France, Germany, and Spain in financial services, fintech, crypto, banking, retail and gaming to gauge levels and types of fraud, how this is impacting businesses and how they are responding.

When it comes to intelligence sharing and collaboration, businesses are already taking action. Over two thirds (70%) of European businesses are currently part of an identity intelligence consortium, which connect transactions taking place around the world and share international consumer intelligence between businesses, across sectors and national borders. Of those who are not part of an identity intelligence consortium, over a quarter (27%) believe they should join one.

UK businesses, however, seem to be lagging their European counterparts when it comes to intelligence sharing. Only 64% of UK businesses are part of an identity intelligence consortium compared with 82% in France, 85% in Germany and 74% in Spain. This is despite the fact that appetite for collaboration in the UK is strong with a third of UK businesses who are not currently a member of such a consortium saying they think they should join one. Only 3% of UK respondents said they do not think they should join.

Laura Barrowcliff, Global Head of GBG Trust, GBG, said “It is encouraging to see large numbers of European businesses already benefitting from cross-sector collaboration, although it is somewhat concerning some businesses are slower to act. Fraudsters operate across huge and growing digital ecosystems and, for businesses, there is a huge value to sharing across borders and sectors to stop them in their tracks.”

Three quarters (75%) of businesses surveyed believe organisations are too worried about maintaining a competitive advantage to participate in collaboration to combat fraud. 80% believe global governments are not doing enough to support cross-sector collaboration. This is despite the fact that 31% of businesses say it’s extremely difficult to identify fraudsters at the point of onboarding.

Laura Barrowcliff concluded “Sharing consumer intelligence to combat fraud does not mean a business will lose its competitive advantage – this is a myth that needs to be busted and fast. Businesses do not share raw data within consortia, but anonymised patterns and insights on confirmed or suspicious fraud. This has a huge benefit for all businesses – regardless of sector. Afterall, criminals don’t limit fraud attacks to one business, industry or stop at national boundaries either.

“If businesses are not part of such a group, they risk losing out because they will not benefit from the early insights that can pre-empt crime detection and stop fraudsters before ever entering a business. Alarmingly a third (31%) of businesses say it’s extremely difficult to identify fraudsters at the point of onboarding – it’s critical this is reduced.”