We note with interest that fraud cost the UK economy £1.374bn in 2010, according to KPMG’s Fraud Barometer. That represented a 16% increase on 2009.

Financial institutions spend an awful lot of money on detecting and resolving fraud, particularly on remote tools designed to identify application fraud trends, but seldom invest as heavily in fraud prevention. In the mortgage arena huge commissions are paid to mortgage introducers, who become the only human face the borrower relates to the transaction, whilst the lender remains in the background. On the basis that “people buy from people”, how much more effective would it be if lenders sent a representative to meet new customers at the outset of the loan agreement, to confirm their understanding of the transaction and resolve any of the borrower’s questions, but also to undertake a rudimentary fraud-check? And here’s an idea – pay for it out of the broker’s fee!