Report

OBL publishes JROC report: Financial Crime within Open Banking journeys

17 December 2024

Open Banking Limited (OBL) is pleased to publish the final report for JROC Workstream 2a, Financial Crime within Open Banking journeys, which is the result of extensive consultation with the ecosystem, regulators and relevant industry bodies. 

It is the first time that such a rich dataset and insights have been gathered specifically relating to fraud in open banking, and we want to thank the data providers for their input. 

It is based on six months of data collected from ASPSPs representing nine brands and 60% of the market. In order to baseline the data, we have also looked at UK Finance figures from the UK Finance Half Year Fraud Report 2024. We share some of the highlights below. 

Download the report

JROC Report
Financial Crime within Open Banking journeys

You can download the full report here.

Analysis of fraud rate – key headlines show that open banking transactions have a significantly lower fraud rate by volume compared to other payment types, but slightly higher by value. Also, open banking transactions exhibit higher APP fraud rates than other payment methods, which reflects its association with larger transactions, such as account transfers and high-value purchases.  

Similarity with fraud in other payment methods – ASPSPs reported that open banking fraud is similar to fraud seen in other payment methods– fraudsters exploit its payments for sophisticated scams, including investment fraud and impersonation schemes, often using social engineering techniques via social media.  

Continual monitoring – although current levels are low, ASPSPs continue to closely monitor fraud as open banking’s growing adoption is likely to attract fraudsters’ attention.  

Prevention measures – from our discussions with ASPSPs, we highlighted some key measures to help further prevent open banking fraud:  

  • increase transaction-level information such as transaction risk indicators (TRIs) and enhanced fraud data (EFD) to get additional information, as with some other payment methods.   
  • develop ecosystem collaboration to share insights and best practices.  
  • continued joint efforts to help raise customers’ awareness of fraud in open banking payments.   

“We are grateful to all the companies that provided data, and those that have taken the time to speak to us about fraud. This is a great base to build upon and enables us to continue to bring the ecosystem together to collaborate on the prevention of open banking fraud, particularly as the use of open banking expands. 

It is also reassuring to note that the ecosystem is unified in the interests of preventing fraud, and the effects of fraud on individuals, society and the UK’s economic health. OBL is committed to the prevention of fraud and is keen to play its part in doing so where possible.”

Christian Delesalle, OBL Head of Participant Support