Revolut has doubled the number of FinCrime employees since 2021 in a bid to combat financial fraud. Last year, the financial super-app managed to prevent potential crimes worth over £200 million.
Summary
Revolut fights financial fraud by doubling its FinCrime staff
Revolut has doubled the number of FinCrime employees since 2021 to combat financial fraud. This commitment has resulted in the prevention of more than £200 million worth of potential fraud last year alone.
In practice, the financial super-app now sees more than a third of its employees dedicated to fighting fraud and crime in the industry (FinCrime).
Specifically, Revolut recognises the fundamental role of human intelligence in fraud detection and prevention, as well as cutting-edge technology and artificial intelligence, to achieve a 360-degree approach to the problem.
Indeed, the financial super-app is increasingly investing in talent around the world to help combat fraud. To date, there are more than 2,500 FinCrime experts across six markets, covering key functions such as product development, data science, customer service, operations and anti-money laundering.
In addition, Revolut has noticed that fraudsters have recently moved from “fraud” to ‘
“scam”. In fact, in Italy alone, data from the Postal Police showed a 58% increase in scams between 2021 and 2022, compared to a 16% increase in fraud over the same period.
Despite this increase, Revolut is proving it can keep up with the criminals and today reported a 35% reduction in APP (Authorised Push Payment) fraud on its platform since June this year.
Revolut: Investing in talent to fight financial fraud
Aaron Elliot Gross, Head of Financial Crime and Fraud at Revolut, focused his presentation on the kind of approach the super-app is taking to combat financial fraud.
Here are his words:
“At Revolut, we focus on a holistic, data-driven approach to customer protection, bringing together industry-leading technology, the best fraud experts and new ways to educate our customers on how to protect themselves from fraud.
Increasingly, we see fraud being perpetrated by sophisticated, organised and ruthless networks of criminals who target our customers primarily through social media platforms, using social engineering techniques (such as romance scams or investment scams) to persuade them to make payments.
To keep pace, we are committed to investing in the best talent in this area, including experienced financial crime professionals, data scientists and customer service staff to help those who fall victim to fraud. We are also continuing to invest in cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology to detect unusual payment activity and protect our customers.”
Data from the super app shows a 100% increase in the number of scams initiated on social media platforms, where two thirds of all scams on Revolut are currently initiated.
The company has currently received more than 77,000 applications for roles in its FinCrime team.
Request for more time to comply with MiCA
In October this year, Revolut, along with PayPal and other members of the Electronic Money Association, called for as much time as possible before the implementation of the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA).
In practice, it seems that fintech companies using cryptocurrencies are urging the European institutions to give them as much time as possible to harmonise with the new rules.
Indeed, these rules will come into force from December 2024, with EU countries having the discretion to choose the maximum time of up to 18 months for the transition.
This means that some countries may choose to allow as little as one month after December 2024 for firms to comply with MiCA.
Revolut and other fintech companies have essentially asked the EU finance ministry to make 18 months the standard time for all countries.
