The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has refreshed its strategy of using data to tackle online fraud faster by scanning about 100,000 websites created daily to identify those that appear to be scams.
The hosts of fraudulent websites identified by the FCA are now being proactively requested to shut them down, though they cannot be forced to do so, according to the watchdog.
It added that this action forms part of an update on the FCA's data strategy underpinning its recent three-year plan to reduce and prevent serious harm, set higher standards and promote competition.
As part of the strategy, the regulator intends to invest in its use of data in 2022/23, recruiting a large number of skilled roles, across artificial intelligence (AI), analytics and data science as well as cloud engineering and digital technology, adding to the 100 it has recruited since 2020. The additional recruits will be responsible for a range of data and digital initiatives, including improving the quality of the data the FCA collects.
The use of advanced analytics and new sources of data helps to identify inappropriate financial adverts, according to the FCA. Last year 564 adverts were withdrawn or amended, double the number compared to previous years, it said.
The regulator added that following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it has developed and implemented a sanctions screening tool to support the monitoring of the effectiveness of a firm's controls in identifying organisations or individuals that have been sanctioned. "This has been vital in supporting our ongoing work with domestic and international partners in response to the war in Ukraine."
The FCA will provide its staff with a dashboard for all the financial companies it regulates and sectors it oversees. This will simplify the process of identifying the highest risk cases, it said.
Between May 2021 and April 2022, the regulator added 1,966 possible scams to its consumer warning list, over a third more than during the same period the previous year.
Jessica Rusu, chief data, information and intelligence officer at the FCA, said: "Better use of data means we can be more proactive and find and stop harm faster. We are continuing to improve our data, technology and capabilities to act decisively in consumers' interests while making it easier for firms to report to us."
Chris Davies founder and director of Model Office said earlier this year: "With the FCA clearly moving towards a data-led regulator via applying outcomes and metrics with cloud to identify firm risks, the old compliance mantra, ‘If it is not written down, it did not happen' is dead. It is now; ‘If you have not got the data, it did not happen'."
