06/15/2026

Compliance Corner: Safeguarding Your Wire Program

Deepen your knowledge of ways to protect your institution and build compliance

Wire transactions are an efficient, effective, immediate payment option, but those same characteristics make them a target for fraudsters. According to the 2026 Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) Payments Fraud Survey Report, wire transfers are the payment type most vulnerable to business email compromise, with nearly half (49%) of organizations reporting they experienced fraud in this area in 2025.

Fraud Mitigation

This means that financial institutions (FIs) must arm their teams and their customers/members with the right tools and information to mitigate risks.

Internally, implementing controls such as transaction limits, biometric checks, two-factor authentication, and callback verification support a more comprehensive approach to risk management, and training staff on what to look for in suspicious situations also may help flag a payment before it is initiated.

On the customer/member side, education on common schemes, including phishing, social engineering, AI-generated attacks, and personalized scenarios like CEO and romance scams, goes a long way toward safeguarding your program. With the right tips, your customers/members can recognize and stop a fraudulent transaction before it even starts.

Compliance Support

However, beyond fraud mitigation, having the right compliance program in place helps to ensure transaction clarity and certainty. For instance, annual wire audits and risk assessments help you strengthen policies and monitoring. In addition, these tools can identify areas of risk to support a more resilient wire transfer program.

Expanding Knowledge

As industry dynamics continue to change and fraudsters grow in their sophistication, deeper knowledge is imperative to protect your FI. Plus, with new technologies and systems entering the picture, a fresh take on your wire program ensures you’re both addressing risk and identifying new opportunities for utilizing and safeguarding wire transactions.

So, join SFE for our upcoming webinar, Wire Transfers: Risk, Compliance, and Accuracy, taking place on Thursday, July 23, at 9:00AM CDT. Presented by Catherine R. Bishop, AAP, APRP, NCP, SFE’s VP, Payments Risk & Compliance, this webinar will ensure you have the information you need to level up your wire transfer program in today’s environment.