UK fraud losses reach record £1bn

BDO a major accountancy firem says fraud in the United Kingdom has hit a record of £1bn in the first six months of 2010. BDO has been monitoring fraud levels for the past seven years.

The main types of financial crimes, says BDO, include mortgage fraud, under-reporting of revenue and VAT avoidance. Mortgage fraud now accounts for 20% of all reported cases.

The average amount of each type of fraud had increased to almost £6m, up from £5m last year. About 16% of all reported fraud came from management falsifying the accounts of their own companies.

Simon Bevan, head of the fraud services unit at BDO, said the increase could not be blamed on the economic downturn. He said fraud continued throughout good and bad times, but austerity brought greater scrutiny and a higher number of laid-off employees prepared to blow the whistle on illegal practices.

Another growing trend identified by BDO is where managers of companies commit fraud by either setting up "companies within companies" or diverting lucrative contracts away to accomplices.

"Linked to this unethical activity is an increase in insider dealing where management don't directly defraud their own employer but their actions leave them open to stringent, and often public, enforcement action by financial regulators," Mr Bevan said.

About 49% of all fraud occurs in finance or insurance, according to the figures.

The BDO data, published every six months, may understate the scale of the problem, because only cases that have been publicly reported to authorities are included.

PayPal boosts online shopping protection in Asia-Pacific region

PayPal has launched newly enhanced buyer protection policy, in a move to strengthen the growing consumer confidence in e-commerce and online shopping sweeping across Asia-Pacific. The new policy targets to protect the over 785 million internet users who buy goods from over 8 million merchants worldwide, accepting PayPal as a payment method on their site.

Moreover, PayPal's Buyer Protection policy can also support online sales growth of SMEs PayPal merchants in the region. Thus, 84 million active PayPal users from over 190 markets worldwide will be more comfortable purchasing on small, unfamiliar sites.

Any eligible PayPal merchant can thus add the Buyer Protection logo to their website to give consumers more confidence in shopping on their site.

PayPal aims to help making online shopping safer and more secure as its Buyer Protection policy enables buyers who have purchased eligible items via PayPal to get a full refund if they do not receive the items from the seller. That’s fine as when shopping with a new or unfamiliar online retailer, especially on overseas websites, consumers are usually worried about the risks involved, like fraud, security and the goods not being delivered.

PayPal’s Buyer Protection policy is now applicable to all its registered users in Asia Pacific, including Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

Bank of America to launch online-only bank account

Bank of America is set to make available a new type of cheque account starting early August 2010, according to reports.

The new eBanking account is set to charge a monthly fee of USD 8.95 for account holders wishing to obtain paper statements or else opt for access to tellers for other routine bank statements. For users who chose to access the account via Bank of America’s ATM network, online banking platform or mobile banking service, the USD 8.95 charge does not apply.

Consumers can open the new Bank of America online-only cheque accounts directly online, as well as by visiting a bank branch or over the phone. According to the same source, starting fall 2010, the new type of account is set to replace the bank's CollegeEdge cheque offering.

New apps added to JPMorgan Chase mobile banking platform

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has added two new features to its application for the iPhone that allow users to deposit checks and conduct person-to-person payments.

The bank hopes that clients who use their phones to deposit cheques would also want to use the devices to transfer funds on a person-to-person basis. “The more people start using their phone and seeing their phone as a payment…or a banking device, you’re going to get adoption of a broader array of services,” said Jack Stephenson, director of mobile, e-commerce and payments for JPMorgan Chase.

Early results indicate both payment services have “very high adoption” rates, but Stephenson said it would take time to figure out if the uses would overlap. “Our strategy is around convenience,” he said. “You want to allow customers to do business in the channel of their choice.”

JPMorgan Chase developed the apps for the iPhone and iPad initially because of the higher user rates those devices have. The company has plans to enlarge its mobile services to other phones and devices, although Stephenson declined to name which ones or how soon those apps would be launched.

Money Laundering – New methods pose new threats

One tends to think of Money Laundering as just that – integrating illegal funs into the legal economy.

Seldom do we think beyond this. Question like “how is it done?” or “what should I be aware of?” just never seem to come to mind.

US Anti-money laundering expert Kevin Sullivan speaks about the latest - and pending - fraud schemes. Bulk cash smuggling and the use of mobile technologies are among the latest, money laundering risks to banking institutions not only in the US but across the globe.

You can read and listen to Kevin Sullivan in an exclusive interview by CLICKING HERE

New remittance transparency standards in US financial reforms

The US financial reform bill, which has cleared its final hurdle in the Senate and now awaits President Obama's signature, includes long-needed remittance transparency standards that will help ensure the safe and affordable transfer of money from immigrant workers to their families abroad.

Those provisions require remittance providers to disclose vital service information prior to a transaction. Among the details to be provided in a written pre-transaction notice are the amount of currency that will be received by the designated recipient, the amount of transfer, any fees charged by the remittance provider for the transfer, and the exchange rate to be used in the transfer.

The bill also requires remittance providers to distribute receipts showing the amount of money to be received, the promised date of delivery to the designated recipient, identifying information about the recipient, and a statement containing the senders' rights regarding error resolution.

Further, the bill requires disclosure of contact information for the remittance provider and the state and federal government regulators for complaints. The disclosures will be available in the foreign languages most commonly used by remittance customers.

Remittance flows from United States, which reached an estimated $47 billion in 2008, play integral roles in both poverty alleviation abroad and asset building in the US. Because about 80 percent of remitters earn less than $30,000 per year, even small savings are vital to both sides of a remittance transaction, and up-front disclosures will not only allow for comparison shopping, but likely drive down costs through increased competition.

Ugandan PostBank now offers an “new” form of reality mobile banking

The Ugandan PostBank has introduced a mobile-van based banking system to ease access to financial services in rural areas.

“This system will reduce the distance customers have been travelling to access our services,” Elidad Kansiime, the chairman board of directors, said at the inauguration of the bank’s Ntungamo branch.

He said system had been operating in the remote areas of Karamoja, but would be extended to other parts of Uganda to encourage saving and fight financial exclusion.

Kansiime said the bank focused on developing a saving culture to improve household incomes of rural people.

“This is the reason we have special products that meet the needs of the low-to-middle income people who wish to save and increase their assets base and productivity to enhance their savings.

“To us, you are not mere numbers, but rather individual clients with personal hopes, wishes and aspirations,” he said.

He disclosed that the bank was in talks with the Government to increase its capitalisation to enable them extend more loans to the rural masses.

While commissioning the branch, the First Lady and Ruhaama county MP, Janet Museveni, castigated commercial banks for being profit-oriented instead of helping the masses to come out of poverty.

She urged the people of Ntungamo to save and invest to prosper.