Financial Crime Training Rated Highest Priority For Payments Employers

Payments employers have named ‘financial crime’ as the highest priority topic for staff training. The topic scored a 74% interest rating in a recent survey conducted by iFinance Academy and the Emerging Payments Association.

“Our clients are experiencing a huge uplift in fraudulent crime and exploitation scams through a variety of transactional methods,” explained iFinance Academy’s Neill Butcher. “It’s absolutely right that employers should be prioritising financial crime training, because that’s one of the key ways to mitigate risks.”

Training in financial crime is mandatory in many jurisdictions, and is often included as a key part of new employee onboarding. The increasing threat level, however, is driving interest in more specialist and regular training to strengthen organisations’ protection.

A full suite of financial crime training courses are already available from iFinance Academy. Courses include “Anti-Fraud & Payments Handling”, “PCI DSS”, “Anti-Money Laundering” and “Information Security”, all of which are available in a fully interactive format, ideal for employee training.

Following the survey, iFinance Academy has now prioritised the development of further financial crime training pathways, targeting a release later in 2021. Businesses are also invited to enquire about requirements for bespoke course development.

Neill Butcher - who also represents The Conexus Group’s consulting firm, VentureStep – stressed that training is just one of many components required for effective mitigation against financial crime.

“Payments infrastructures are resilient,” he explained, “however, criminals continue to find innovative ways to exploit weaknesses. Its critical to review security controls regularly, and highlight risks within both existing and new systems.”

Training Demand: e-Money, Risk, Continuity & Transfers

The topic of ‘e-Money and digital banking’ also ranked highly, averaging a 73% interest rate from survey respondents. There was also strong interest for training around ‘risk management’, ‘business continuity’ and ‘agency banking, virtual IBANS and real time payments.

The survey, entitled ‘Future Skills 2021’ was taken by senior professionals within payments and fintech, including banking and payment institutions, fintech startups, PSPs and e-Money organisations.

Specialist courses, all developed in partnership with the Emerging Payments Association, are already available via iFinance Academy. Courses such as “An Insider’s Guide To Payments And Payment Systems” and “Open Banking” offer an introduction to specialist topics that are ideal for new staff induction and upskilling.

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To learn more about iFinance Academy or receive a course demo – free for EPA Members – visit: ifinanceacademy.com