Investment into technology which promises to enhance lending capability has increased in recent years and bridging firms are beginning to note the benefit that sharing information through such devices can bring to their businesses.

A resource which is growing in particular popularity amongst lenders is the web-based Syndicated Intelligence for Risk Aviodance (SIRA) database, a fraud prevention and detection solution from Synetics Solutions, which already has companies from financial services through to government using its platform.

According to its website, SIRA “… provides businesses with a scalable integrated fraud defence platform, which is able to leverage best of breed data sources, enabling users to execute numerous bespoke fraud strategies within one environment delivering a single point of referral.”

As bridging firms fast become a notable part of SIRA’s 55-company strong client base, B&C has found exactly how it works and why it might benefit your company…

So, how does it work?

Once a user has been provided with a link to the SIRA website and entered their login details, the three sections of the site – Data Files, Clock Face and Banner Menu – will enable navigation.

Information submitted to the database from your computer system will be processed daily according to a set of ‘rules’ which will then appear on a front-end system; applications may be flagged if further investigation is required.

Rules are the basic tools for matching the applications to existing information in the SIRA database. Information that may be relevant to the application will then be highlighted to easily identify areas for investigation.

Rules will also validate the application without comparing to others, e.g. if the value of the loan applied for is above £7,500.

The ‘Ignore Fields’ tool is a list of information that the application is also checked against to ensure no false positives are achieved.

Flagging may occur if the information in the application, such as a telephone number, matches those in applications already stopped by SIRA.

Investigation into the flagged applications will then take place and the suspected fraudulent application will be checked against other applications received to the database over the past 90 days.

A ‘Match List’ of information included within the application will be one of four different types:
• Validation rules;
• Local matches;
• National matches;
• 3rd Party Data Matches (such as CIFAS).

Items being investigated can then be managed using the ‘Action Status’ tool which enables you to mark if the application is: fraud, suspect, investigating, waiting, clear after investigation, clear not investigated or not worked.

Items that are found to be fraud cases are held in a ‘Stop File’ which can then be accessed via the main menu of the system.

Organic searches can also be performed on the database and manual information entry can be used for those with the appropriate permissions.

Flagged items within the applications are highlighted so that sections can be reviewed with ease; the information can then be checked against past and current cases to identify potentially fraudulent applications.

SIRA can be of huge benefit to the bridging industry; applications are viewed in context of others that have been submitted to a wide range of firms – not only finance providers but insurers and government too - so that checks are performed across a wide spectrum of applications.