FPC Urges Transparency as Fraud Disputes Rise

A clear and consistent dispute resolution process is essential to building trust and promoting the growth of instant payments, according to two contributors to a report released Friday (May 15) by the U.S. Faster Payments Council (FPC).

The report, “Instant Payments Fraud Dispute Resolution: Guidance Principles for the U.S.,” addresses the unique challenges of fraud dispute resolution when payments are irrevocable and provides guidance for designing dispute resolution frameworks. It does not provide specific rules or liability frameworks, FPC said in a Friday press release.

Three of the 11 guiding principles outlined in the report are recognizing that all ecosystem participants have a shared responsibility in mitigating fraud, establishing structured dispute resolution workflows, and promoting transparency through ISO 20022-aligned information exchange.

“Speed and dispute resolution can co-exist,” Lee Kyriacou, partner at PayGility Advisors and chair of the FPC Fraud and Scam Mitigation for Faster Payment Work Group, said in the release. “Establishing a clear and consistent dispute resolution process is essential to the adoption and growth of instant payments.”

Shelley Rojano, executive director, payments risk management at JPMorganChase and vice chair of the FPC Fraud and Scam Work Group, said in the release: “Because many forms of instant payments are irrevocable, dispute resolution has become a defining trust issue for adoption.”

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “Instant Myths: Debunking Faster-Payments Fraud Fears” found that fraud concerns are shaping how businesses approach instant payments.

The report found that 16% of businesses experienced payment fraud in the previous year and that their fear of fraud threatened the adoption of instant payments.

“Businesses increasingly value the speed and liquidity benefits of real-time money movement, yet many remain hesitant due to fears around sharing account information, vulnerability to scams and uncertainty about the safety of new rails,” the report said.

A PYMNTS Intelligence report focused on credit card disputes, “How Card Disputes Are an Opportunity to Cultivate Customer Loyalty,” found that 52% of consumers said that speedy processing of a charge card dispute is a key reason they were satisfied with its resolution.

The FPC’s new report joins others it has published on the topic of instant payments, including “Operational Considerations for Instant Payments Send-Side Guidelines,” which shares best practices for financial institutions, and “Operational Considerations for Receiving Instant Payments.”