ABM Q4 - Flipbook - Page 33
Q&A
ALPHERA FINANCIAL SERVICES UK
offence of Failure to Prevent Fraud, which
forces a business like ALPHERA to have
reasonable fraud prevention procedures
in place – a stance we fully support – and
means we could be prosecuted if we get
it wrong.
We have worked hard for 20 years
to position ourselves as a trusted and
proactive partner for dealers and brokers
in protecting legitimate consumers, by
preventing, detecting and reporting
fraud. We want our customers to be
confident they are dealing with trusted
companies who take fraud seriously.
The other trend, and it’s very obvious
as you drive round UK roads today, is the
rise of the Chinese OEMs. Specifically, it’s
the sheer volume of new brands, their
facelift and new model replacement
cycles, plus their pricing policies and
what you get for the money.
All of these have led to rapid market
penetration, and that is inevitably having
an impact on some of the longerstanding car brands, particularly demand
for new and used examples of their
models, and what price they sell for.
We, as a finance provider, need to be
very aware of what’s happening today
and what might happen tomorrow.
Cybersecurity has ttaken on a
much higher profile in recent
years. What are the risks in
the car finance sector?
It’s less about on
one dramatic hack and
more about the cumulative risk created
mo
across the supply chain. The concern
acr
that a weakness in one part of the
is th
ecosystem could expose customer data
ecosyst
process before we
or disrupt a critical p
have full visibility.
hav
In a motor
finance environment, that
m
heightened because partners may
risk is h
handle sensitive identity, affordability,
han
and finance-decisioning data
application, an
part of the customer journey.
as par
Fraud
attempts against customerF
processes, including applications
facing p
identity verification, remain a
and identit
constant background risk, but the
const
wider issue is the dependency on thirdwide
parties operating securely and reporting
par
issues quickly.
issu
To reduce the risk, we have
implemented strict controls by setting
clear security expectations with partners,
assessing them according to the level
of risk they present, limiting access to
what is necessary, maintaining ongoing
oversight, and agreeing clear incidentreporting routes so issues can be
escalated and contained quickly.
Of course, we also benefit from being
part of BMW Group, one of the world’s
best-known automotive businesses, so
we have its wide-ranging data security
systems as a solid foundation.
Have advances in AI
amplified this risk, or made
things easier to combat?
AI has made phishing and impersonation
far more convincing, with better
grammar, personalised targeting, and
even voice or video spoofing. The old
advice to ‘look for spelling mistakes’ no
longer holds up.
But AI cuts both ways, improving fraud
detection and monitoring for us as a
business. We are transitioning from basic
security awareness to holistic human
risk management. This shifts the focus
from merely educating users to actively
changing behaviour, implementing
technical guardrails, and embedding
security into our culture.
We are using AI to help review supplier
security reports more quickly and
consistently. This helps us identify key
responsibilities, check whether important
security controls are in place, and
highlight potential gaps that may need
further review.
The organisations that do well treat
security as an ongoing conversation
with partners, not a periodic compliance
exercise, and that will continue to be
our approach.
What is Alphera’s USP to
dealers?
Over our 20 years, our USP has always
been the quality of our products and
our consultative approach – across every
part of the process – in working with
our partners. →
Q4 2026
AUTOMOTIVE BUSINESS
33
