Federal financial regulators seek input on mitigating payments fraud

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Reserve, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a Request for Information (RFI) on questions related to payments fraud. 
Specifically, the agencies seek ways they can “collectively or independently in their varying respective roles to help consumers, businesses, and financial institutions mitigate check, automated clearing house (ACH), wire, and instant payments fraud.”

The RFI contains questions covering five potential areas of improvement and collaboration to help mitigate payments fraud, including:

• External collaboration;
• Consumer, business, and industry education;
• Regulation and supervision;
• Payments fraud data collection and information sharing; and
• Reserve Banks’ operator tools and services. 

Comments are also open for more general perspectives related to payments fraud, and are due within 90 days of publication in the Federal Register. 

America’s Credit Unions will file detailed comments in response to the RFI, and continues to support efforts to address fraud on multiple fronts, including bipartisan Senate legislation to create a payments scam task force (which would include an NCUA and credit union representative).

The organization has also called for a rethinking of funds availability rules to combat check fraud, brought the credit union perspective to a Treasury roundtable on fraud, and met with Treasury Deputy Secretary Michael Faulkender on the topic last month.