Across the UK, banks, mobile operators, card issuers and consumer finance firms have joined with US firm ID Analytics to conduct a large-scale study of identity fraud with the aim of building new fraud-busting technology customised for the British market.
ID Analytics will lead and conduct the research in partnership with five of the six largest banks, three of the four largest mobile operators, five of the seven largest credit card issuers and two of the largest online and offline retail consumer finance companies in the UK.
The participants have already begun contributing data to the ID Network, an analytic system designed to identifying patterns, practices and activities indicative of identity fraud.
George Lennox, manager, group credit and risk at HSBC Holdings says: "It was important to us to join with other companies both within and outside of our industry to help give businesses even more tools for combating fraudsters."
The study replicates research conducted in the US in 2003 which contributed to the founding of the ID Network, a real-time national system developed exclusively to manage identity risk. As a result of this collaboration, ID Analytics is now scoring close to 10 million consumer applications a month in the US.
Katy Worobec, head of risk management at the Association for Payment Clearing Services (Apacs), welcomes the initiative: "We look forward to the results of ID Analytics' data study, which we anticipate will provide further insight into the types and dynamics of identity fraud and fraudster methods."