Fraud Prevention

Locality Bank creates a united front against fraud with Abrigo Fraud Detection

Asset size

$358 million

Product

Abrigo Fraud Detection

Financial institution type

Bank

As a fast-growing, digital-first community bank, Locality Bank faced fraud from nearly every direction—including new account, check, ACH, and wire fraud. The institution needed a comprehensive fraud detection solution that could integrate with its existing financial crime program while helping the bank meet evolving regulatory expectations.

With Abrigo Fraud Detection, Locality Bank strengthened fraud detection across multiple payment channels, improved operational efficiency through automation, and created a more unified approach to financial crime management. customers, the institution, and its reputation. Read the highlights below, or download the case study for the details of Locality Bank's Abrigo experience.

Download the full case study

The challenge: Keeping pace with
evolving fraud

Locality Bank is technology-based, offering customers a fully digital experience with high touch, concierge-level service. Its physical location in South Florida, in combination with the nature of cloud-based banking, exposed the bank to an increasingly complex fraud landscape.

Like many community financial institutions, the bank experienced fraud across multiple channels. New account fraud became so significant that the bank temporarily shut down its retail account opening portal.

"We've had new account fraud, we've had wire fraud, we've had ACH fraud, and, of course, good old check fraud is resurging,” said Cindy Sheppard, SVP, BSA/AML and Fraud Officer at Locality Bank. “When the regulatory requirement of having tools in place for ACH fraud rolled out, we started looking for fraud detection that would benefit the bank.”

“[BAM+ and Abrigo Fraud Detection] are so interrelated. Once an alert creates a case that is detected as fraud, the fraud analyst picks it up, and it works the other direction as well. If we have suspicious activity, the BSA administrator is preparing the SAR while the analyst is cross reviewing."

Cindy Sheppard, SVP, BSA/AML and Fraud Officer

The solution: Integrated fraud
detection

Locality Bank began implementing Abrigo Fraud Detection in early 2025, rolling out fraud monitoring for over-the-counter transactions, wire transfers, ACH payments, and check fraud. The bank continues to expand its capabilities alongside a core conversion and plans to add payment rail fraud and FedNow monitoring as those integrations
become available. Throughout the process, the Abrigo implementation team worked closely with the bank to ensure a smooth rollout and position the institution for continued optimization.

The integration between fraud management and financial crime operations has become one of the platform's greatest strengths. Alerts move naturally into case management, allowing fraud investigations and suspicious activity reporting to support one another. The bank's fraud and BSA specialists collaborate throughout the investigation process while maintaining consistency through standardized report templates. To maximize the platform's value, Locality Bank also hired a dedicated fraud analyst to own the solution and work closely with the bank's BSA administrator.

The results: Greater efficiency
without adding staff

Locality Bank is still early in its Abrigo Fraud Detection journey and is already seeing the benefits of a more comprehensive, technology-driven approach to fraud prevention. The solution has automated fraud detection across multiple payment channels while supporting the bank's efforts to strengthen fraud monitoring and meet evolving
regulatory expectations. As the system continues learning the bank's transaction patterns and additional integrations come online, Locality Bank expects those benefits to continue growing.

"The detection capabilities are key for loss prevention and improving our processes," Sheppard said. "The solution is doing the initial work rather than the human, so you're automatically creating efficiencies."

2026 State of fraud report

In Abrigo’s third annual State of Fraud survey, more than 1,000 U.S. consumers share their experiences, concerns, and expectations around fraud prevention. The findings offer valuable insight into how financial institutions can protect customers.

Download the report