Finextra and Ecommpay set webinar on coordinated fraud controls

Finextra Research will host an online webinar with Ecommpay on September 8, 2026, examining how financial institutions, payment firms and regulators could respond to fraud as a system-wide risk rather than an institution-by-institution problem. The session is scheduled for 15:00 BST, 16:00 CEST and 10:00 EDT.

The event comes as Interpol has warned that financial fraud has become “one of the world’s most severe and rapidly evolving transnational crimes, with significant economic and human consequences.” According to Interpol, AI-enhanced fraud is 4.5 times more profitable than traditional methods, a shift that raises the stakes for banks, payment companies, merchants and public agencies exposed to financial crime.

Finextra said the discussion will focus on the industry initiatives and regulatory changes that could support broader fraud prevention strategies. The agenda frames modern fraud as a problem increasingly centred on human vulnerabilities rather than technical weaknesses alone, with criminals using methods that can be difficult for both consumers and institutions to identify.

That change affects the way controls work. Traditional fraud prevention often relies on each organisation detecting suspicious activity inside its own systems, using transaction monitoring, customer authentication, internal rules and case review. An ecosystem approach would depend more heavily on shared signals, aligned procedures and clearer responsibilities across firms and oversight bodies.

Regulatory fragmentation on the agenda

Finextra said the webinar will consider how multiple regulatory and oversight bodies have roles that touch fraud prevention, while no single authority has end-to-end responsibility. The panel will discuss what reform could mean in practice, including how a more unified approach might account for differences in business size, risk profile, resources and operational constraints.

The session will also address regulatory conflicts that may limit collaboration. In fraud prevention, data sharing can help firms detect patterns across accounts, merchants, payment channels and geographies, but it can also raise legal, privacy and governance questions. The webinar agenda identifies those tensions as a barrier to industry-wide cooperation.

Finextra said another area of discussion will be whether the financial services and payments industries need standardised fraud processes. A common process could create more consistent responses to suspicious activity, but the event will also examine the limits and potential shortcomings of standardisation, particularly where firms operate under different models and face different types of exposure.

Speakers and format

The webinar will feature Willem Wellinghoff, UK chair and chief compliance officer at Ecommpay. Teresa Connors, contributing editor at Finextra, will moderate the discussion.

According to Finextra, the panel will explore the obstacles that prevent more effective collaboration, including limited data sharing between organisations and the fragmentation caused by firms building separate fraud prevention tools and frameworks. It will also consider whether a systemic, non-profit solution could bring participants across the fraud prevention chain into a more coordinated structure.

The event is being hosted online and registration is available through Finextra. Finextra said the session is intended for participants seeking to understand the regulatory and industry changes required to support broader collaboration against financial fraud.

This story draws on original reporting from Finextra Research.