UK Finance warns tech giants to step up in Britain’s fraud fight
UK Finance has delivered its most forceful warning yet to the world’s biggest tech platforms, with chief executive David Postings calling on Silicon Valley to “grasp the scale of the crisis” and do far more to stop fraud spreading across their networks.
Speaking at the Economic Crime Congress 2025, Postings said the UK is now facing an epidemic of financial crime that no single sector can contain.
And while banks are spending more than ever on compliance, enforcement and intelligence, the majority of fraud still begins on social media and telecoms platforms, not in the banking system itself.
“The fight against economic crime is a team effort,” Postings said. “Industry, government, regulators, civil society and law enforcement all have a role. But some sectors are simply not pulling their weight.”
Fraud now accounts for more than 40 per cent of all crime in the UK, with criminals stealing £629.3m in the first half of 2025 alone, a three per cent rise on last year.
More than two million cases were recorded over the same period, a 17 per cent jump.
Yet, despite the ballooning scale of the problem, banks remain the only part of the chain legally required to reimburse victims of so-called APP fraud, where customers are tricked into sending payments to criminals.
Postings called that approach “like asking your goalkeeper to save every shot because the outfield players are asleep”.
Banks footing the bill
UK Finance estimates its members now spend £38bn a year on compliance, costs largely driven by money laundering regulations.
Postings welcomed the Treasury’s promise to modernise those rules, along with the higher reporting threshold for Suspicious Activity Reports, which he said will let firms prioritise high-value cases rather than drowning in paperwork.
But a series of new burdens like the Public Authorities Fraud, Error and Recovery Act risk, he argued, pulling banks into policing benefits fraud at the expense of tackling the sophisticated organised networks driving the UK’s economic-crime surge.
“We need a system focused on the largest risks and threats,” he said, arguing this aligns with the Chancellor’s wider push for competitiveness and growth in financial services.
But progress has been made.
The Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit prevented over £75m from being stolen this year and disrupted 120 organised crime groups, a record.
The long-running Banking Protocol, which connects branch staff directly with police, has stopped £400m in fraud since launch.
But with 66 per cent of APP fraud starting online and another 17 per cent via telecoms networks, Postings said prevention must begin where criminals are operating, not at the point the bank transfers the money.
“This cannot remain something we would merely like to see because it is fair,” he warned. “It is a national security issue.”