LSEG Launches Solutions Against Payment Fraud and Deepfake Scams

The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), a provider of data and infrastructure solutions for financial markets, has introduced two innovative verification products designed to combat the increasing threats of payment fraud and identity theft in global banking networks.

These tools are tailored to assist financial institutions with cross-border transaction processing.

Addressing Payment Fraud and Regulatory Changes

The first product, Global Account Verification (GAV), targets authorized push payment (APP) fraud, where individuals are deceived into transferring funds to fraudulent accounts unknowingly.

Initially, this system will operate across 22 countries and will conduct real-time checks on bank account ownership before any transactions are finalized.

This initiative is timely, as UK Finance has reported APP fraud losses of £213.7 million (approximately $277 million) during the first half of 2024.

This alarming trend has prompted notable regulatory changes, with the European Union set to implement new regulations requiring payment service providers to facilitate continuous instant payments starting January 2025, along with mandated account name and IBAN validations by October 2025. These regulations will impact all payment service providers within the EU.

GAV offers financial institutions a three-tier assessment model, classifying potential transfers as “match,” “close match,” or “no match.” The goal is to broaden coverage to 80% of G20 countries, although a specific timeline for this expansion has yet to be announced.

Advancing Biometric Security and Digital Identity

The second product, Document and Biometric Verification (DBV), integrates facial recognition technology with document verification and liveness detection to address the growing concern of deepfake fraud in digital banking.

This system is designed to counter issues arising from synthetic media that may bypass conventional identity verification protocols.

Utilizing artificial intelligence and deep learning algorithms, DBV conducts identity checks by accessing an extensive international database.

It is capable of authenticating over 16,000 types of identity documents across 220 countries in 140 languages, making it highly applicable for financial institutions operating in diverse jurisdictions.