Smartnumbers Consortium Conference 2026

It's time to register for our flagship community event, where counter-fraud experts and industry stakeholders unite to share knowledge and shape the future of financial crime prevention.

It's an opportunity to hear the latest insights from the Smartnumbers community and see cross-sector collaboration in action.

We look forward to welcoming fraud prevention professionals from a whole range of sectors including banking, insurance, telco, airlines, travel and hospitality.

When: Thursday 25 June 2026

Starting: 09:30 for Consortium Members • 12:30 for all attendees

Where: Think Tank at 8 Bishopsgate, London, EC2N 4BQ

Why register?

Fraud doesn't stay within sector boundaries and neither does the intelligence to fight it. The Smartnumbers Consortium Conference brings together fraud leaders from financial services, telecoms, travel and insurance to share the threats they see in the contact centre today, including AI-enabled attacks, spoofed numbers and ineffective authentication tools - and their cross-sector approach to tackling them.

"We focus on creating interactive sessions where ideas can flow, the data dots can be connected and people can collaborate."

Jamie Melling
CEO at Smartnumbers

"I like talking to other fraud teams using Smartnumbers to understand the MOs they see and how they combat them."

Louise
Fraud investigator at Lloyds Banking Group

"It's great to get a better understanding of what Smartnumbers does, the technology behind the scenes and the capability."

David
Fraud investigator at British Airways

What's on?

In the morning for invited Consortium members

09:30

Registration and coffee

Networking and a light breakfast
10:00

Talks and roundtables

Data insights from across the Smartnumbers Consortium New features and roadmap update Roundtable discussion

In the afternoon for all attendees

12:30

Lunch and registration

Join us for lunch and networking before hearing from the Smartnumbers team and speakers from our community.
13:30

Welcome

Jamie Melling kicks off an afternoon of thought-provoking sessions exploring the fraud threats reshaping contact centre security and the collaborative responses emerging across sectors.
Jamie Melling
CEO, Smartnumbers
13:35

When AI makes fraud easier and customers work harder

Modern AI and agentic tools offer enormous potential to improve contact centre efficiency and customer experience. Yet that potential remains constrained by authentication processes that unintentionally create friction for genuine customers and make it increasingly easy for bad actors to navigate them. Matt will examine how new approaches to caller validation can help organisations unlock the value of automation and strengthen trust.
Matt Smallman
Symnex
13:55

Securing the contact centre: What best practice looks like

Sharon introduces CCA Global's new framework for best practice in contact centre security, covering fraud prevention, frontline staff experience, and customer outcomes -- giving attendees concrete standards to benchmark against.
Sharon Johnston
CEO, CCA Global
14:20

The contact centre’s role in insurance fraud

In this fireside chat, Matt Gilham will speak with fraud leaders about how insurance fraud is changing across digital channels and the contact centre. The discussion will cover synthetic identities, account takeover, policy hijacking, withheld and spoofed numbers, and what existing use of shared data in insurance can teach us about responding to contact centre threats.
Matt Gilham
Whitelk
14:45

Refreshments

A 30 minute break to refresh, network with peers and reflect on the themes from the first part of the afternoon.
15:15

The cross-sector threat landscape

Tim examines the latest fraud trends, threats and methods of operation Smartnumbers is seeing across sectors through its platform. The session will look at where attack patterns are overlapping between industries, what is changing in contact centre fraud, and what these signals can tell organisations about the threats they may face next.
Tim Burton
Chief Product and Success Officer, Smartnumbers
15:35

Can you trust the number calling you?

This session will introduce a new Smartnumbers initiative focused on helping organisations verify inbound calls with greater confidence. It will explore how intelligence from the telecoms carrier can improve caller validation and strengthen contact centre security. Through a fireside chat, the discussion will look at how this capability is being delivered in practice and how it can help rebuild trust in who is calling.
16:05

Future threats, shared response: the future of contact centre security

Tim explores where contact centre fraud and security threats are heading next, and how the consortium community can respond. He will look at the future threats likely to shape contact centre security, and how shared insight, cross-sector collaboration and better technology can help organisations stay ahead.
Tim Burton
Chief Product and Success Officer, Smartnumbers
17:00

Networking drinks

An informal opportunity to continue the conversation, connect with peers and reflect on the themes from the day over drinks.

Who's speaking?

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Matt Smallman
Symnex

Matt is the author of 'Unlock Your Call Centre: A proven way to upgrade security, efficiency and caller experience' and an independent consultant engaged by end-users of the latest authentication and fraud prevention technologies. Matt’s mission is to remove 'Security Farce' from the call centre and all our lives. Matt previously held senior strategy, design, and delivery roles at Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group.

 

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Sharon Johnston
CCA

Sharon Johnston is a strategic leader in customer contact and digital transformation, with extensive experience helping organisations improve customer experience, operational resilience and frontline performance. At CCA Global, she leads initiatives focused on future capability, AI readiness and industry best practice.

 

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Matt Gilham
Whitelk 

Matt is the author of “Unlock Your Call Centre: A proven way to upgrade security, efficiency and caller experience” and an independent consultant engaged by end-users of the latest authentication and fraud prevention technologies. Matt’s mission is to remove “Security Farce” from the call centre and all our lives. Matt previously held senior strategy, design, and delivery roles at Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group.

 

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Andy Pickard
Hastings Direct

Andy Pickard is a Policy Fraud Manager at Hastings Direct, with over a decade of experience in insurance fraud. He has also held a senior fraud role at Marshmallow, bringing strong expertise in intelligence-led investigations, fraud prevention, and leading teams to identify and disrupt organised fraud.

 

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Anna Phelps
Hastings Direct

Anna is the Fraud Risk Manager at Marshmallow, where she owns the fraud prevention and detection strategy. Anna's work combines intelligence gathering and analytical insight to combat organised fraud at scale, including uncovering synthetic identity fraud rings spanning multiple insurers. She leads the Fraud Intelligence function, working cross-functionally to embed fraud prevention into product and operational decisions.

 

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