In episode 60 of the Growth Series podcast, Nick Piper, Strategic Business and Operations Manager at Yorkshire Building Society (YBS), is joined by Rob Sinclair, Chief Executive of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) and Richard Ramsden, Senior Manager - YBS Information Security. In this episode, they discuss risk management and how mortgage professionals can identify fraudulent activity when completing fact finds with their clients.
Nick starts the conversation by asking Rob how his organisation can support members of the broker community to protect themselves against fraud and to stop them from damaging their reputations with lenders and compliance officers. Rob gives an insightful answer surrounding the development of processes to ensure that brokers get a fair hearing when they are deemed to have overstepped the mark, giving the broker the opportunity to answer any challenges. He reveals that mortgage fraud is placed as a priority policy within the AMI.
From there, Nick questions how a firm can ensure that its wider business is prepared to identify potential cases of fraud. Rob suggests that the best way for brokers to do that is by having conversations. Good, honest and long conversations allow you to get to know the customer, and that’s how you can find any potential mismatches between the story being told and the documents they’re shown.
Moving on to the topic of information security, Nick asks Richard what he considers the major threat to mortgage intermediaries to be. Richard explains the importance of understanding exactly what it is that you are handling and what the value of that is. He explains that the range of information that brokers and lenders have access to regarding customers is enormous, and with that comes a great level of value to certain parties and a responsibility to stop it from getting into their hands unjustly. This leads to the suggestion that extortion is one of the largest threats, before breaking down the intricacies of some of the techniques that hackers and other dangerous actors might enact.
The conversation turns to the regulation and consequences for financial services firms that cannot demonstrate that they are protecting their clients’ data. The consensus is that the consequences have the potential to be very large indeed, with the example being used of GDPR violations being liable for fines up to and in the region of £17.5million or 4% of global turnover.
Read more: GDPR Checklist: How compliant are you?
Rob then explains the extent of the damage that can be caused by “successful” attacks such as hacks known as phishing exhibitions. He pinpoints the time and money required to fix the resulting problems and the worthwhile investments of preventative technology.
Nick and Richard then talk together about which skills are useful to develop for professionals in the space to ensure that they are prepared for any potential attacks. As the discussion draws to a close, the trio talk about limitations that lenders may face around sharing information with brokers and any third party resources that would be helpful for brokers and intermediaries.
The Growth Series is a dedicated resource that aims to help mortgage brokers grow their business using digital and communications marketing techniques. For more hints and tips on how to grow your business, you can sign up to the Growth Series for free, here.
1.19 - 28.06 discuss:
Learn more: How secure are you and your clients against financial crime?