Press Release

FLA LEADS THE FIGHT AGAINST FRAUD

25 September 2006

Finance & Leasing Association today jointly hosted a Labour Party conference fringe meeting in Manchester with Citizens Advice at which Liam Byrne, Home Office Minister of State, underlined the case for a national ID card scheme. FLA has consistently supported the scheme provided the costs are proportionate and the national database can be used by lenders for strictly limited credit checking purposes.  

Data sharing by public sector bodies

FLA today again led calls for greater data sharing to help in the fight against fraud. In its response to the Home office’s consultation on new powers against organised and financial crime, it urged the Government to find ways to overcome any obstacles that stand in the way of greater data sharing. The Government has proposed that public sector information on suspected fraudsters should be shared more widely within the public sector and with the private sector to prevent and detect fraud. FLA strongly supports this.

Fraud Review

Separately, FLA welcomed the Attorney General’s Fraud Review, calling for this to be considered as a starting point, not as a conclusion.

Martin Hall, Director General of FLA, said:

 “The Government seems at last to see fraud as the serious source of harm to society which it really is. They also see that this is a vital area for partnership with the private sector. Without a common approach the battle cannot be won.

“The financial services sector already co-operates in many areas with Government. It is more than ready to commit its fair share of resources to the fight against financial crime, provided Government does the same.  Moving forward together is an exciting challenge for both.”

FLA’s work on financial crime

FLA takes prevention and investigation of financial crime very seriously, and several targeted programmes are in place.

FLA has recently agreed to provide to the Home Office just over £11,000 to fund training for police forces around the country on the implications of the Fraud Bill, once it is enacted. The training material will be provided by the City of London Police.

Our members fund the Vehicle Fraud Unit – part of the Metropolitan Police Service – which recovers fraudulently-obtained vehicles on finance. To date, the Unit has recovered cars worth over £9 million. In addition we sponsor the Port of Tilbury police force to enable them to devote extra resources to checking and recovering vehicles that were subject either to finance or to an insurance claim.

We take a leading role in the credit industry in initiating imaginative projects in this area, and we maintain a number of standing groups of members on financial crime-related issues. We are represented on the Home Office’s Identity Fraud Steering Committee and Identity Fraud Forum, on the Cross Sector Data Sharing Sub-group, and on the North West Fraud Forum.

FLA has arranged a conference on Financial Crime for the 17th October to address these and other fraud issues in the financial sector.