Issue 2
August 2024
Welcome to the MBA's News Digest!
Dear readers,
Welcome to the second issue of the Mauritius Bankers Association’s News Digest!
Fraud, and scams, are the main focus of this edition, highlighting the urgent need for heightened vigilance, and awareness both locally and globally; as cautioned by the Bank of Mauritius’s Public Notice issued on 9 August 2024, and the MBA’s communiqué issued on 2 August 2024.
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Best wishes,
The MBA team
Fraud: Is seeing still believing?
5 August 2024
‘Not only are fraudsters playing what Castilla and others describe as “the long game,” but they’re using cutting-edge technology that makes detection increasingly difficult. In romance scams, for instance, deep fakes are deceiving even very astute people who “see” an individual on a Zoom call. Not realizing that that individual has been created from a photograph. The depth of the problem made headlines in February, when a finance worker in Hong Kong paid $25.6 million to a bad actor using deepfake technology to pose as the company’s U.K.-based CFO on a multi-person videoconference call.’
Democrats introduce bill to require reimbursements for electronic transfer fraud
5 August 2024
‘The Protecting Consumers from Payment Scams Act would amend the Electronic Fund Transfer Act “to better protect consumers who are defrauded when they make payments,” according to a summary of the legislation by its sponsors. In addition to expanding legally required reimbursements to cover frauds and scams, the bill would mandate that such payments be evenly split between a customer’s financial institution and the institution that received the fraudulent transfer. It would also mandate that resolution duties apply if the consumer’s account is frozen or closed, unless access has been denied due to a court order, law enforcement or the consumer obtained the funds through unlawful or fraudulent means.’
Over Rs 177 crore lost on account of ATM/credit card, internet banking frauds
5 August 2024
‘A customer need not bear any loss if the deficiency is on the part of the bank and in cases, where the fault lies neither with the bank nor with the customer but lies elsewhere in the system and the customer notifies the bank within three working days of receiving the communication about the unauthorised transaction. Where the loss is due to the customer’s negligence, the customer has to bear the entire loss until he/she reports the unauthorised transaction to the bank.’
Precision banking: The ‘digital twin’ advantage
1 August 2024
‘In the banking industry, digital twins may seem like enhanced scenario analysis. And if this is what you’re thinking, we don’t blame you. But here is where the key difference lies: data. Traditional scenario analysis relies on static data while digital twins use real-time dynamic data and facilitate bidirectional data flow. This means that a digital twin can take insights it produced and trigger changes to optimize the physical system it replicates, whereas scenario analysis merely provides an output that must be reviewed and acted upon separately.’
2024 Revised Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision
2 August 2024
‘The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) recently revised the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision (BCP). The BCP are the de facto minimum standards for the sound prudential regulation and supervision of banks and banking systems and are universally applicable. This comprehensive update, the first since 2012, reflects the evolving financial landscape.’
Securing Trust: The Cornerstone of Customer Confidence in Financial Services
1 August 2024
‘When it comes to cyber risk management, the financial services sector faces stringent regulations and standards. Laws such as FFIEC IT and GDPR, the SEC requirements, standards like NIS2 or DORA, and frameworks like NIST, ISO, PCI, SIG, or SOC2 have made robust security postures a mandate—and cybersecurity programmes are synonymous with nurturing customer relationships to build and maintain trust, as well as increasing accountability and transparency to executive boards, audit committees, regulators, and investors.’
Bank survey: Credit cards remain most popular payments option
1 August 2024
‘Rewards cards dominate the credit card space with more than eight in 10 consumers (83%) having one, according to TD Bank. When it comes to choosing a new card, consumers are most enticed by the rewards program structure (34%), attractive introductory offers (33%) and the reputation of the card issuer or financial institution (24%).’
Eleventh Circuit affirms Wells Fargo’s win in bitcoin fraud lawsuit
31 July 2024
‘When it comes to cyber risk management, the financial services sector faces stringent regulations and standards. Laws such as FFIEC IT and GDPR, the SEC requirements, standards like NIS2 or DORA, and frameworks like NIST, ISO, PCI, SIG, or SOC2 have made robust security postures a mandate—and cybersecurity programmes are synonymous with nurturing customer relationships to build and maintain trust, as well as increasing accountability and transparency to executive boards, audit committees, regulators, and investors.’
Will the digital euro be the currency of the 21st Century?
10 July 2024
‘Rewards cards dominate the credit card space with more than eight in 10 consumers (83%) having one, according to TD Bank. When it comes to choosing a new card, consumers are most enticed by the rewards program structure (34%), attractive introductory offers (33%) and the reputation of the card issuer or financial institution (24%).’
FATF President highlights FATF's inclusive approach at the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in Brazil
25 July 2024
‘In this effort, we will support low-capacity countries that face unique challenges. For example: We are developing guidance on how to be effective in combatting illicit finance from a low-capacity country context and dimension. We have made changes to how we prioritize countries for increased scrutiny to reduce the pressure on less developed countries. We are helping to join forces between Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and other technical assistance providers to ensure low-capacity countries have the support to build effective frameworks. We are supporting jurisdictions to implement regulation for virtual asset service providers.’
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