Working Safely Between Christmas and New Year

29 December 2025

The days between Christmas and New Year often involve reduced staffing, remote working, and changes to normal approval processes. From an FCA perspective, this is still business as usual when it comes to protecting clients and preventing financial crime.

We regularly see an increase in fraud attempts at this time of year, particularly targeting finance teams and authorised signatories.

Things to be especially careful about:

• Requests to change supplier or client bank details.
• Emails asking for payments to be made urgently due to staff absence.
• Messages asking you to share login details or verification codes.

Good habits to follow:

• Verify payment or bank detail changes using a known and trusted contact method.
• Never share passwords or multi-factor authentication codes.
• Keep work and personal email completely separate.
• Report any lost or stolen devices immediately so access can be blocked.

These controls help meet FCA expectations around fraud prevention and operational resilience.

How Maple can help

Maple supports financial firms with secure remote working, device management, and fraud prevention controls. If your working patterns have changed, we can help ensure your setup still meets regulatory expectations.

Helpful links:

• Take Five campaign on preventing financial fraud
• NCSC guidance on secure home working