Solicitors have a key role to play in tackling mortgage fraud because other sectors more readily accept information provided by the legal profession, the new head of the government's National Fraud Strategic Authority (NFSA) told the Gazette this week.


NFSA programme director Sandra Quinn said: 'With mortgage transactions, solicitors clearly have key roles including establishing identity. Other participants will derive confidence from the role of solicitors in the process and there is potential for that to be misused by fraudsters.'



Ms Quinn is now arranging a series of round-table discussions to be held in March with representatives across all sectors - including lawyers, lenders and regulators - to formulate plans on how to best tackle fraud together.



The meetings will allow professionals to jointly identify loopholes or blindspots over the course of the entire buying or selling process, which fraudsters could potentially exploit.



Law Society President Andrew Holroyd said the Society would be 'heavily involved' in the discussions.



Anita Rice