Fintechs, law enforcement agencies mull ways to address digital fraud, cyber security challenges

The workshop was organised to foster strong collaboration between fintechs and law enforcement agencies to ensure due compliance of extant rules and regulations, among others.

Department of Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi during a workshop held on April 30 emphasised the contributions of the startup and fintech community to India's high and sustained economic growth, and urged for greater collaboration among the government, regulator, public and the private sector to harness the full potential of the sector.

Joshi said given that fintech companies are more technology and innovation oriented, they draw the traction of regulators and law enforcement agencies when they grow their businesses over a period of time.

The secretary made these comments during a half-day workshop with law enforcement agencies, and startup and fintech companies. This was jointly organised by the Department of Financial Services and Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), Ministry of Home and was a continuation of the last interaction of finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 26.

The interactive workshop was organised to foster strong collaboration between fintechs and law enforcement agencies to ensure due compliance of extant rules and regulations, and to address key challenges such as cybersecurity, digital financial frauds, among others.

While the fintech associations presented the operational modalities and key challenges faced by the the companies in the sectors, law enforcement agencies from the states shared their best practices on curbing cybercrime and financial frauds, the government said in a release on April 30.

Following issues were deliberated during the proceedings of the workshop:

>> Role of technology in providing accessibility to financial services

>> Strategy to control the money mules

>> Appointment of key contact point or nodal officer by the Fintech companies to liaise with the LEAs

>> Real-time monitoring of data infringement by both the Fintech companies and LEAs

>> Geotagging of digital transactions to track the money trails

>> Creation of suspicious registry of BCs and fraudsters involved in the financial frauds

>> Conducting regular audits of digital KYC for fostering trust and accountability

>> Establishing a mechanism for freezing and unfreezing of accounts for faster recovery of defrauded money

>> Devising a mechanism to ensure data privacy and prevention of data theft

>> Modernisation of digital infrastructure by leveraging technologies like API integration

Heads of around 60 fintech companies, four fintech associations, 23 states' police departments, CBI, ED, FIU-India, central government ministries and departments, regulators and other concerned agencies participated in the workshop.