A new anti-fraud system for credit card customers has been unveiled by a UK-based bank. HSBC announced that all customers would now have their transactions screened in real time.

Just one in four of these credit card transfers was analysed by the bank previously, the BBC reports.

The bank’s move follows the release of figures from payments association Apacs, showing that card fraud increased by 14 per cent over the first half of last year.

Chip and Pin not enough

Even the chip and PIN system - introduced in Britain partly as a bid to limit fraud - has been shown to have been targeted by con artists recently.

What we have seen with chip and PIN - it was successful for 18 months, two years - the fraudsters have worked a way round it, so we are now looking at more sophisticated means.

Speaking to the BBC, Bart Patrick at HSBC’s anti-fraud system providers SAS UK commented:

Card fraud is an arms race. The banks will come up with one way of dealing with it, the fraudsters will come up with a way round it.

It’s a battle that is tied directly into the technology which supports it - as technology advances, so does the fraudsters ability to bypass set security measures - it’s a battle that is both continuous and expensive.