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ITFA, the Global Trade Finance Industry body, is delighted to announce the creation of the ITFA Fraud Prevention Working Group.
The newly created working group is being set up as part of ITFA’s Fintech Committee with the aim of addressing a significant risk issue in our industry. Fraud remains pervasive and impacts both lending institutions and the people, companies and societies they serve.
The goals of the working group will be as follows:
- Raise awareness amongst members of the risk of fraud in trade finance
- Create a taxonomy of fraud risk typologies
- Deliver best practice guidelines for banks and financing institutions in trade and working capital finance
- Lead a cross-border double-financing prevention effort
- Identify the technology vendors to collaborate with.
The working group will comprise some of the largest global trade banks and foster integration efforts amongst fintechs in collaboration with and for the benefit of the banks. Its co-chairs will be representatives from the banking sector and the specialist fraud detection and prevention company, MonetaGo.”
André Casterman, chair fintech committee, ITFA explains the rationale, “Fraud prevention requires industry-wide collaboration; this is the complexity that the Fintech Committee concentrates on. Building on our flagship DNI Initiative and TFD Initiative, we are now applying our proven approach to drive collaboration amongst fintechs involved in helping banks prevent fraud. Here too, banks will be the ultimate beneficiaries of such an effort and are invited to join the new working group.”
Neil Shonhard, CEO of MonetaGo, said, “Trade finance is a crucial enabler for the global economy, but fraud has been a persistent and pervasive risk that affects everyone involved. Tackling this issue benefits from collaboration and standardisation on a global scale, and as such we welcome this industry-wide effort, which represents a significant step forward in the fight against financial crime.
We are humbled to lead an effort with ITFA to solve the problem of fraud in trade and working capital finance, which aligns with our activities with financial institutions, fintech companies, inter-governmental organisations, multilateral development banks and industry associations worldwide.”
