Fight fraud, not each other: The view from UK property industry experts

Like every organisation, we had to do our risk assessment. Reassess what risks we face in terms of money laundering and terrorist financing. What we noticed is that, money laundering methodologies are the same as ever, but where they differ, they differ in scale. Now technology is available to fraudsters as well, not just to combat money laundering, but actually to use technology for fraud.”

Inevitably without Secure share, there would be slight differences, slight nuances between what different agencies ask for, and what they do and don't accept and similarly, very slight differences between what we might ask for, versus what the clients’ solicitor may be asking them for.

With the introduction of Secure share, what I really hope is that there would be a sort of “shared standard” between everybody. Which I think in turn avoids that inconsistency, and means that a client is going to start to understand that this is essential and it is very much required by everybody.”

If we're all on board and we're all using the same product that we know has the highest level of industry standards out there, then there's a much easier training element from an internal perspective to make sure that your risk controls are still in place.”

Buying and selling is already a daunting process for a lot of individuals. You don't want to go over the same process to each provider and say, “This is me, I'm proving it's me”. It's easier to do it just the once and if that could be allowed to be shared beyond even conveyancers and the estate agents, I think that would really speed up the whole process for everyone. And also, will close any gaps in terms of fraud.

Clients appreciate not having to repeat the process and understand the benefit to them certainly from a time perspective.”

What a lovely thing for us to be able to explain to our prospective clients early on, that we have chosen an AML provider, and there's this product called “Secure share” that has them and their user experience at its heart. And that we are as a business, choosing to invest the time and the money and the effort to make that really easy for them and to speed up their sale.”

It signposts you as being best-in-class if you’re working with a provider like Thirdfort and you're the early adopters of the new innovative technology that is at the forefront of fighting fraud in the industry. And for us, we want to work with similar partners, similar introducers, be they agents or brokers, that hold the same high standards that we have.”

It's attractive because it shows collaboration with stakeholders in the transaction and that common sharing facilities helps build that understanding. Certainly, from what we have seen it has benefited the idea that we're working collectively, we have a shared technology, shared reporting. We have experienced a definite uplift.”