In a speech delivered at the annual Women in Housing and Finance Symposium in Washington, D.C., Bowman said that she is doing so because “in addition to the individual harm to consumers, ultimately fraud threatens the integrity and reliability of our financial system.”
Nearly every fraud affects a bank account, banks of all sizes are working to combat fraud, and the financial impact of fraud is increasing across the banking industry, Bowman said.
The Fed’s 2025 “Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking” found that 21% of American adults experienced financial fraud or scams in 2024, Bowman said.
It also found that consumers’ net loss from non-credit card fraud that year totaled $63 billion. Bowman noted that the financial products in that category often do not provide consumers with automatic protection or guarantee of recovery.
“Our banking system runs on trust — the belief that accounts are secure and customers can transfer money safely and reliability,” Bowman said. “When one in five adults experiences fraud and $63 billion disappears from household accounts, that trust erodes.”
Advertisement: Scroll to Continue
To address this challenge, the Fed, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) are evaluating responses after reviewing more than 250 comments they received in response to a request for information issued in June 2025, Bowman said. The responses being evaluated include enhanced guidance and resources for banks, and broader stakeholder engagement on fraud solutions.
In addition, the Fed is enhancing the fraud-related tools and services it provides to banks across its payment platforms. For example, the Fed is working with the banking industry to develop a shared vocabulary for different forms of fraud so that they can better identify and combat these scams, Bowman said.
The Fed is also working with state and local partners to combat fraud. For example, Bowman, TreasurySecretary Scott Bessent and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr are preparing to hold a public-private roundtable at which they will ask participants to share what has been working in terms of fraud prevention and what the government can do to help, Bowman said.
“The criminals are sophisticated, organized and relentless,” Bowman said. “Our approach must be equally robust.”
