StreamMind launches APP prevention solution in Europe

Technology software providers StreamMind has announced the launch of its bank transfer scam prevention solution in Europe.

The solution enables a user to match an identity with bank account number and complies with the recent proposal by the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to fully put confirmation of payee measures in place by 31st March 2020.

PSR’s proposed new regulation is to help protect people from authorised push payments (APP) scams.

Nicolas Muhadri, CEO, StreamMind, explained: “Getting measures in place to fight against bank transfer scams is necessary to protect consumers who should not have to bear the burden of criminal activities.

“With our solution Lucy, banks can lift the burden by empowering them against such scams.”

UK Finance revealed in its ‘Fraud the Facts 2019’ report that APP scams cost the economy £354.3m last year, with £228.4m lost to consumers and £126m to non-personal or business account holders.

Chris Hemsley, co-managing director, PSR explained upon the release of the proposed new regulations: “APP scams can have a devastating impact on the people who fall victim to them.

“The code is a major step-up in protections and it reflects our strong belief that if somebody has done everything they can reasonably do to protect themselves, they should be reimbursed. I welcome the commitment that these banks have made to their customers.”

StreamMind works with a large network of banks and has built an interbank network in cooperation with French banks (Caisse d’Epargne, Crédit Mutuel, CIC, Crédit Agricole, BNP, and Société Générale) and several others in the information technology sector (SUN Microsystems, HP and IBM).

Its solution, dubbed ‘Lucy’, utilises this interbank network and works by matching the identity of an account holder with its account details from any of the banks within the network – undertaking a claimed 4 million verifications in a minute.