By: Joy Henry, Executive Vice President, Americas
The financial and business service sectors are experiencing an eventful start to 2025. As companies adapt to evolving risks and regulatory challenges, hiring and screening tends are also shifting to address new threats and compliance demands. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has just published its 2025 Annual Regulatory Oversight Report, highlighting key risks and best practices in the industry.
With identity fraud and insider threats on the rise, firms are under pressure to attract specialized talent quickly, while ensuring rigorous compliance measures and maintaining customer trust.
Let’s take a look at some of the trends shaping the conversation in the financial and business industry in 2025.
Mitigating Identity Fraud
Identity fraud is becoming even more widespread, with a study by AuthenticID reporting a 2.10% increase in 2024–the highest level in three years. This surge is fueled by new technologies such as deepfakes and gen AI fraud.
Unfortunately, the growing risk of identity fraud is especially significant for financial institutions, as job positions in this space often may be handling sensitive client information including financial information. Therefore, identity fraud mitigation is critical in the financial and business industry to maintain client trust.
Look for identity fraud solutions that combine liveness detection, document review, and knowledge-based question techniques to identify potential discrepancies or flags suggesting further inquiry is recommended. First Advantage’s Identity solutions are designed to take place within the candidate experience and enable companies to check on potential identity fraud or issues with identity information for candidates before the background check begins.
I-9 Compliance
In the US, all employers, including financial services providers, are required to use Form I-9 to ensure they are entitled to work. Financial institutions are looking for I-9 solutions to accelerate the hiring and onboarding processes while managing their compliance requirements.
The I-9 form is a crucial document in the hiring process for the financial services industry, within which employees regularly handle transactions, regulatory files, and client data. Thus the I-9 form ensures legal compliance and risk mitigation, protects financial companies from potential fines and audits, and ensures that employees meet federal work authorization within the industry.
First Advantage provides an I-9 Compliance cloud-based solution with streamlined Form I-9 and E-Verify tools allowing employers to manage their candidates’ data from a centralized platform. Having an integrated solution that can also connect to your ATS integration can help streamline your E-Verify process with auto-submission and integrated case management tools.
Education, Employment, and Credential Verifications
False or inaccurate credentials are another major source of concern for financial and business services companies. In a high-profile case, an applicant was given the role of Chief Financial Technology Officer at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency based on an impressive resumé. This resumé included high-ranking positions at various major financial institutions, including Fifth Third Bank, Accenture and Citi. However, an investigation subsequently revealed that his supposed former employers had never heard of him.
In a competitive job market, candidates may be tempted to embellish–or flat-out invent–their qualifications. For financial and business companies, employment, education, and credential verifications are the first line of defense. To fill sensitive and high-visibility executive positions, financial institutions may also want to consider specialized executive screening checks in order to mitigate risk.
When completed in-house, the verification process is time-consuming, which is why financial institutions turn to screening providers like First Advantage to check their candidates’ education and work history. Our proprietary Verified! solution helps us minimize the number of “unable to verify” responses, helping you hire and onboard quickly.
Continuous Monitoring
FINRA’s annual report lists insider threats as one of the main risks facing the financial industry. This worrying development highlights the need for financial companies to remain vigilant even after the initial hire. Insider threats occur when an employee uses their access to company assets, such as their systems and data, to harm their employer or other parties.
The consequences of insider fraud can be costly. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the financial and business services industry is one of the most heavily impacted, with median losses of $120,000 across 305 incidents in US businesses. Beyond the financial repercussions, security and data breaches can tarnish an institution’s reputation in this highly trust-based industry.
Access to sensitive data and valuable assets makes financial institutions appealing targets for bad actors. A monitoring program is one of the key strategies employers can wield to mitigate insider risks. By continuously monitoring employees’ criminal records for adverse activities that may have occurred since the initial hire, screening providers can help employers identify and mitigate risk.
Are you looking for a trustworthy screening provider to streamline the hiring process? First Advantage provides you with global, industry-specific resources to find and retain the specialized talents you need while managing the complex compliance requirements of the financial industry.
Contact us to learn more about how we can optimize your screening process.
