Collaboration through reciprocal sharing of data and intelligence is crucial to tackling insurance fraud. In November’s Modern Insurance Magazine, Whitelk explores the continuing importance of reciprocity and how this is central to the Insurance Fraud Bureau’s Broadening the Membership programme.
Reciprocity: The Engine Room Powering Our CoFraud Capability
Collaboration has long been our industry’s superpower against insurance fraud. We’ve built strong habits of sharing data and intelligence, joining the dots, and coordinating collective action. Time and again, we’ve shown that reciprocity works in practice and overcomes the otherwise limited visibility of any single insurer.
This culture didn’t appear overnight. Insurance has led the way in data and intelligence sharing for decades. From the early days of claims sharing via CUE and MIAFTR, to pioneering fraud and device-data consortia, the industry has continually evolved its approach. From adopting the National Intelligence Model to share intelligence safely and lawfully, to the operation of the IFB as the industry’s central data and intelligence hub with its databases of proven and suspected fraud, each step has reinforced the same underlying principle: contribution and benefit.
Fraud keeps changing. So must we. Through 2025, we’ve seen a renewed emphasis on cooperation and reciprocity to ensure our collective capability keeps pace with evolving threats.
This shift is clearly reflected in the IFB’s delivery of its Broadening the Membership programme, part of a wider strategy delivered over the last three years. The programme modernised the membership structure to drive cross-industry reciprocity, enhanced member capability, and extended IFB membership across product lines and the wider insurer ecosystem.
For me, three areas really stand out:
Modernised membership documentation, placing reciprocity at the heart of collaboration and enabling the next level of data and intelligence sharing.
Simpler but robust membership rules, improving protection of shared data while enabling timely use across the full membership.
A wider, more connected membership base, strengthening overall sharing and the ecosystem’s ability to support insurers.
With this programme delivered, the IFB launched its new five-year Connected to Protect strategy in October, setting bold goals for the industry. Its aims include broad participation and partnerships, raised data quality and quantity, and deeper public and sector trust. The goal is not simply more data, but better outcomes: improved decisions, greater disruption, broader prevention, and fewer victims.
For counter fraud leaders, the message is simple: reciprocate and cooperate. Keep contributing high-quality data, enable lawful and appropriate use, and bring business partners onto the same page. This is how we achieve the next step-change in collaboratio
