Finance & Banking
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Fraud Management & Cybercrime
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Fraud Risk Management
Little Progress Made to Mandate Customer Reimbursement for Financial Scams
Financial scams and synthetic identity fraud showed no signs of slowing in 2025, as regulators focused on fraud prevention over reimbursement for victims. But some countries joined the United Kingdom in advancing new anti-scam measures that focus on prevention and industry accountability, said Ken Palla, fraud expert and former director at MUFG Bank.
See Also: New Attacks. Skyrocketing Costs. The True Cost of a Security Breach.
“Once you move away from the U.K., it’s more of a control-type thing,” Palla said. “Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and the Philippines are all focusing on prevention and tighter controls.”
In this video interview with Information Security Media Group, Palla also discussed:
- The push in Southeast Asia to hold multiple sectors accountable for scam controls;
- The complexity of combining reimbursement rules with enforcement of technical controls;
- Why 2026 could see greater focus on money mules, crypto ATM rules and cross-border fraud prevention.
Palla helped shape the initial responses to the U.S. 2005 and 2011 FFIEC Regulatory Guidance to improve online security for U.S. banks and served as an adviser to the RSA Conference eFraud Global Forum. He previously served as a member of the program committee for the annual RSA Conference in San Francisco.

