Modern money movement in the financial industry is changing how money moves and how users interact with their banks. However, as payments speed up, so do the threats. Using AI, cybercriminals are now targeting vulnerabilities in the payment lifecycle.
When fraud isn’t managed correctly, payment flows can stall, user trust can be broken, and business continuity can be compromised.
Secure payments depend on strategies which include advanced technology, skilled personnel, and agile processes.
Why fraud prevention starts with being resilient
The UK recently lost over £575 million to Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud, even though real-time payments grew by more than 20%.
Scams and cyberattacks can damage brands for years, causing delayed payments, missed business opportunities and frustrated customers.
This is why financial institutions need to embed resilience together with proactive fraud-prevention foundations across every layer of their payment operations.
Payment continuity and fraud resilience are now two sides of the same coin.
Where fraud and cyber risks meet
Research found that 43% of breaches were due to phishing incidents, with criminals exploiting stolen credentials from data leaks or phishing campaigns.
Scammers are discovering new ways to use automation to identify weaknesses and bypass basic controls with the use of deepfake technologies and false identities.
Earlier this year, a US payment gateway provider was attacked, which caused service outages that affected merchants and payments across its network.
Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks also disrupt banking services, triggering outages across the payment chain. Because of this, authorities in the UK and the EU are pushing for real-time fraud monitoring, proven resilience frameworks, and precise incident reporting.
Payment, fraud, cyber, and risk teams must work as one, sharing knowledge, staying up to date and responding in real time.
Building financial strength in practice
So how can financial institutions strengthen their resilience?
1. Implement immediate, risk-based controls
To stop fraud, organisations can use modern defences, such as AI, to track transactions, flag suspicious activity in real time, and enable swift intervention.
AI-powered tools like Senseon can help flag unusual activity, but human awareness remains your strongest defence.
2. Promote cross-departmental collaboration
Fraud, cyber, risk, and payments teams must operate as one. Breaking down silos enables faster incident response, more effective root-cause analysis, and a holistic view of risk.
Regular response exercises and established playbooks that define roles and escalation routes for fraud or cyber incidents are key for organisational cross-departmental collaboration.
3. Invest in people and skills
Our research shows that 32% of businesses point out a shortage of specialist skills as a top barrier to tech adoption.
Upskilling teams in the latest fraud and cyber tactics is important as technologies like AI and quantum computing are changing the threat landscape.
4. Test, learn, and adapt
Resilience is an ongoing process, not a one-off project. Fraud is becoming more sophisticated, interconnected and technology-enabled, so organisations need to go beyond simply preventing incidents and focus on building resilience. In 2025, over £1.3 billion was lost to fraud in the UK alone.
Katrina Gallagher, Head of Privacy at FDM, advises, “The first priority is making fraud a board-level issue, with clear ownership, accountability and oversight across the organisation rather than leaving responsibility to a single function. Executives should empower their people by breaking down organisational silos and enabling teams to share intelligence, test assumptions, and respond collectively to upcoming threats. Strong governance, clear decision-making and access to the right data are just as important as the technology used to detect fraud.”
Organisations can integrate regular team exercises, crisis-preparation training and scenario-planning sessions, using findings to improve controls and create response plans.
5. Strengthen governance and accountability
Organisations should ensure boards receive regular updates. Clear reporting, clear decision-making, and regular briefings on fraud and cyber risks embed resilience. With board-level oversight, they can confirm that resources are correctly allocated and that strategies are developed as threats and technologies evolve.
For organisations to deliver real value, governance frameworks should be embedded into everyday fraud prevention operations. By embedding these steps, financial institutions can build the operational muscle to ensure continuous payments.
Building cyber resilience
We have seen through recent incidents how cyberattacks can damage the payment ecosystem. A ransomware attack which targeted one of the world’s largest banks halted trades and caused disruptions across the $26 trillion U.S. Treasury market. Communication systems collapsed, and billions of dollars were at risk. The incident exposed core vulnerabilities in global banking operations.
In today’s real-time payments networks, even a short-lived disruption may have enormous consequences.
ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 are quality and security benchmarks, but their real value lies in the behaviours they encourage across an organisation. They provide internationally recognised frameworks that help embed governance, accountability and continual improvement into everyday decision-making, creating organisations that are better equipped to adapt, manage risk and deliver consistently for their clients.
At FDM, we successfully renewed both our ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certifications, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to these internationally recognised standards.
Payment visibility is key
Banks and payment providers should balance providing seamless, frictionless payment experiences with robust controls that deter and detect fraud. Achieving this balance demands steady vigilance, smart use of technology, and a customer-focused approach.
Most clients choose partners they believe will deliver consistently, communicate openly and protect what’s important to them. Standards like ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 are frameworks that help ensure those actions remain consistent.
By informing users about fraud threats, resilience protocols, and the steps they are taking to protect their payments, institutions can build trust and empower customers to play an active role in their own security.
Fraud prevention, cyber resilience, and payment continuity are inseparable pillars of a forward-looking payments strategy. Payment continuity cannot exist without strong fraud controls and cyber defences. Preventive actions, cross-team collaboration, and customer confidence are essential. The pace of change calls for continuous education and adaptation.
How FDM can support
FDM supports organisations through a multi-tiered approach to building resilient defences against AI-powered threats.
Consultants from our IT Operations and Risk, Regulation & Compliance Practices possess the latest cyber defence tools and skills that matter to our customers and know what can affect them and what’s changing in the industry. The foundation for this is training and ongoing support.
Businesses that invest in people-powered, forward-looking strategies will not only stay ahead of evolving fraud tactics but also protect their organisations from financial and reputational damage.