The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has authorised banks to collaborate on the development of an industry standard to detect and prevent scams. The ACCC said in a statement yesterday that it granted the interim authorisation because “a co-ordinated response across government, law enforcement and the private sector is essential to effectively combat scams that are evolving rapidly and with increasing sophistication”. The authorisation applies to all Australian Banking Association members.  The ABA has taken a number of steps in this area in recent months: in May it announced that it would encourage its members to join the Fraud Reporting Exchange operated by the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange; and in April ABA chief executive Anna Bligh said the industry was open to exploring a number of initiatives, such as confirmation of payee arrangements and an SMS ID register. The ACCC said it has imposed reporting conditions on the ABA to ensure it can follow the progress of the collaboration. “The authorisation also includes strict measures to manage the risk of the banks co-ordinating on anything beyond scam prevention and customer redress,” the ACCC said.