Commercial fraud is intensifying rapidly, driven by increasingly sophisticated tactics—especially those powered by AI. The ebook outlines the external and internal pressures banking institutions face, the cost of inadequate defenses, and the case for shifting to a multi‑layered, behavior‑aware fraud strategy.
Fraud Is Escalating and Evolving
Banks are experiencing unprecedented levels of fraud attempts:
- 78% of organizations were hit with payment‑fraud attempts in 2024.
- $8.5B lost to business email compromise (BEC) between 2022–2024.
- Digital fraud is projected to exceed $50B in 2025.
AI is the biggest accelerator, enabling:
- Hyper‑realistic deepfakes (up 1,100% in Q1 2025).
- Highly convincing BEC attacks.
- Scalable, automated phishing.
Fraudsters target commercial clients due to high‑value, low‑volume transactions.
External Pressures Are Mounting
Banks must keep up with rapidly shifting compliance requirements and industry standards, such as:
- Instant Credit Transfers (SEPA Inst)
- Verification of Payee (VoP)
- ISO 20022 Migration
Regulatory enforcement topped $19B in 2024, raising the cost of compliance failures.
Meanwhile, fraud incidents can erode trust—84% of consumers would switch banks if linked to financial crime.
Internal Pressures Limit Fraud Teams
Fraud and risk teams are expected to “do more with less”:
- 56% of fraud teams reported no increase in headcount despite a 30%+ rise in attacks.
- Analyst burnout is high; turnover in banking/finance nears 20%.
- Customers expect frictionless experiences across ACH, wire, and real‑time payments, making fraud detection even harder.
Legacy Systems Create Blind Spots
Most banks still rely heavily on the core banking system for fraud detection—seeing only the transaction data, not the “story” around it.
Missing context includes:
- Login patterns
- Behavior analytics
- Session activity
- Device/geolocation data
Without this, banks make decisions with incomplete information, which fraudsters exploit. In this ebook learn the strategy required to best combat these growing threats.
