Pictured above: Fraud lawyers Mark Kenkre and Arun Chauhan, head of the niche team at Midlands law firm Challinors

Midlands law firm Challinors has established a unique joint venture with the specialist training division of Birmingham based Loss Adjuster QuestGates, to create one of the UK's first-ever Mortgage Fraud Technician courses and qualifications. 

Accredited by Teesside University, the course is designed to provide senior representatives within financial institutions serving the mortgage market with a blend of theory and practical skills in the specialist field of financial crime investigation. Challinors' fraud lawyers believe the course will have a direct effect on reducing banks and building societies' losses from mortgage fraud and assist them in dealing with fraud prevention and earlier recovery arising from mortgage fraud.

"Challinors has been monitoring the mortgage fraud developments nationally for some time," explains Partner and joint head of the firm's specialist Fraud & Asset Recovery Department, Arun Chauhan. "The incidence of mortgage fraud is on the rise, a growth that has hit an all-time high in the UK and worldwide in the last three years, with a particularly dramatic increase in the incidence of large scale mortgage fraud.

"Historically, many lenders were simply taking too many risks, exposing themselves to potential mortgage fraud and consequential losses.  We feel there is a pressing need to give financial institutions practical guidance on minimising their exposure to risk as well as providing them with guidance as to the increased regulation they face.

"The course is a very positive step forward in achieving this, whilst at the same time giving individuals with responsibility for risk management, crime and regulation or risk investigation, the unique opportunity to acquire and expand their focused knowledge of how financial institutions can reduce exposure to mortgage fraud and in turn, its impact."

John Freeman, Counter Fraud Director at QuestGates has been offering accredited counter fraud training through Teesside University for three years and believes fervently in the need for professionalisation and continuing personal and professional development in the fraud arena: "Fraud is a serious and growing problem across our economy, not least in the mortgage industry and we need to take a thorough and professional approach to tackling it," he says. "There is no other practitioner based accredited fraud training in the mortgage market, but because of our relationship with Teesside's Fraud and Financial Crime Unit, and the specialist knowledge of Challinors we have been able to tailor make a course specifically for the sector."

The Mortgage Fraud Technician course programme is designed to ensure students are aware of the issues and procedures relating to fraud and its investigation, with its syllabus focused on the particular field of financial crime. Successful students will be awarded a University Certificate in Continuing Education, which carries 10 Level 1 Higher Education Credits as part of CPD.

Split into three modules, delivered over two months, the course is delivered by an Accredited Counter Fraud Trainer, Andrew Whittaker from QuestGates together with expert input from Challinors' fraud lawyers Arun Chauhan and Mark Kenkre. The course will cover matters including Civil and criminal perspectives on fraud, Fraud investigation management, Intelligence and evidence, Human Rights and PACE, Investigative reporting and evidential packages.

Challinors' Mark Kenkre, joint head of the fraud team alongside Arun, adds: "We have worked closely with QuestGates to develop a practical course specific to financial crime and mortgage fraud. QuestGates is a Chartered Loss Adjuster and Claims specialist which has developed a unique relationship with Teesside University to offer accredited training.  We believe the company is the ideal partner for this joint venture based on its established track record in delivering this high level of professional training."

Challinors has offices in Birmingham, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton, Halesowen and Nottingham. The firm has 24 partners and over 100 fee earners, and is ranked as one of the top legal firms in the West Midlands, being Number 1 in the Chambers UK Directory in a number of categories, including Clinical Negligence.