The UK financial services regulator has warned banks to closely monitor what steps they take to mitigate the growing risk of AI-powered fraud.
Nikhil Rathi, CEO of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said in a speech at the Financial Conduct Authority’s office. economist This week, it said it “continues to remain vigilant in considering how cyber risks and fraud are likely to increase and how companies are mitigating them.”
He cited the case of financial activist Martin Lewis, who last week warned his followers on social media about a viral deepfake video generated by AI technology in which his likeness was used to promote an investment fraud scheme.
“There are other risks such as cyberfraud, cyberattacks and identity theft that are increasing in scale, sophistication and effectiveness,” Rathi continued.
“This means that as AI adoption continues to grow, we must simultaneously accelerate investment in fraud prevention and operations and cyber resilience. We will have a strong policy of fully supporting beneficial innovation through innovation.”
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But the FCA chief also acknowledged that AI technology itself could be used to combat crimes such as fraud and money laundering “more quickly, accurately and at scale.”
His speech was prompted by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s renewed call for the UK to become a global hub for AI regulation.
RiverSafe CEO Suid Adeyanju argued that being clear about what the FCA expects from financial services companies will be crucial in the coming months and years.
“As the wave of AI-powered cyberattacks and online fraud continues to grow in complexity, financial services companies are stepping up their cyber credentials and ability to identify and neutralize these threats before they gain a foothold. It’s important to do that,” he said. Added.
Daniel McLaughlin, Field CTO at OneSpan, argues that organizations are behind because many of the security tools they use are not designed to deal with advanced AI threats. bottom.
“Traditionally, security has focused on protecting end-to-end processes, but this needs to change. We need to focus on protecting and authenticating the actual interactions that occur on the fly,” he argued.
“This risk-based approach to protecting interactions by balancing the required level of security and user experience is key to protecting us all.”
