Three-fourths estimate their bank’s annual fraud losses exceed $5 million
PARIS (Feb. 25, 2026) — A new survey of fraud-management, anti-money laundering (AML), and compliance team leaders at French banks finds social engineering scams and money mule accounts top the list of fraud-related concerns. Those in the C-suite of French banks placed a greater emphasis on money laundering than scams, with 27% ranking it as the No. 1 threat and nearly two-thirds placing it in their top three worries. By comparison, only 40% of French C-suite leaders surveyed named scams as one of their top three worries (potentially due to the fact French banks aren’t yet required to reimburse scam victims).
“We also see French C-suite execs as more likely to report an increase in fraud attempts at their organization (47%) vs. all those surveyed in France (31%),” BioCatch Director of Global Fraud Intelligence Thomas Peacock said, “suggesting leadership may see early warning signals not consistently visible across all banking teams.”
The survey was commissioned by BioCatch, which prevents fraud and financial crime by recognizing patterns in human behavior. More than two-fifths (43%) of those surveyed estimated their banks annual fraud losses exceed $10 million (or €8.44 million), while 44% said fraud losses at their organization were increasing.
“With PSD3 fast approaching, regulators appear poised to reinforce institutional responsibility," BioCatch France Country Manager Matthew Platten said. "Mandatory reimbursement is moving from a customer expectation to an institutional obligation across all of Europe. In this environment, banks cannot rely on reactive fraud investigations after funds have already left the victim's account. We need stronger, preventive fraud detection. That means real time, risk based controls that can detect social engineering scams and mule activity before payment execution without breaking the customer experience. Delivering these real-time controls while preserving seamless digital journeys will be central to maintaining customer confidence in an increasingly complex threat landscape.”
Other key findings:
- Fully digital onboarding coming soon: A quarter of French respondents indicated their bank had already begun to implement fully digital customer onboarding, while 69% believed their organization was likely to one day adopt a digital-only process.
- PSD3/PSR prep lagging: While 55% of French respondents said their bank was taking proactive action to prepare for any future regulatory changes mandating full reimbursement of scams, this trailed reported preparation in neighboring countries, where an average of 73% of those surveyed indicated their organization had already begun to update its reimbursement policies.
- Reimbursement becoming the norm: More than two-thirds (67%) of French respondents said their bank reimbursed at least half of scam victims.
- Reputation over finances: Nearly four-fifths (79%) of those surveyed expressed greater concern for the reputational damage inflicted by fraud and scams than any financial repercussions. This is higher than both the European (69%) and global (71%) averages, suggesting that protecting customer trust and brand credibility is a top priority in France.
Download the report to view the complete results.
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About BioCatch:
BioCatch prevents fraud and financial crime by recognizing patterns in human behavior, continuously collecting more than 3,000 anonymized data points – keystroke and mouse activity, touch screen behavior, physical device attributes, and more – as people interact with their digital banking platforms. With these inputs, BioCatch's AI and machine-learning models reveal patterns in user behavior and provide device intelligence that, together, distinguish the criminal from the legitimate. The company’s Customer Innovation Board – an industry-led initiative in partnership with American Express, Barclays, Citi Ventures, HSBC, Macquarie Bank, National Australia Bank, and others – collaborates to pioneer innovative ways of leveraging customer relationships for improved fraud detection. Today, more than 30 of the world's largest 100 banks and 340 total financial institutions deploy BioCatch solutions, analyzing 17 billion user sessions per month and protecting more than 660 million people on more than 1.6 billion devices around the world from fraud and financial crime.
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PR contact:
Mac King
BioCatch director of global marketing communications
Mac.King@BioCatch.com
