First Home-Owners Grant Manager

Secure FHOG Payment Management with Built-in Fraud Controls

Client

Retail Bank – Mortgage Fulfilment (Post Drawdown)

Business Problem

As part of the government’s First Home-Owners Grant (FHOG) scheme, the bank was responsible for verifying and disbursing payments to approved builders.

The existing manual process lacked internal controls, raising concerns around fraud exposure, data integrity, and auditability. A fast, secure solution was needed to enforce separation of duties, streamline claims processing, and reduce operational and reputational risk.

Solution Delivered

We implemented a secure, Excel-based front-end connected to a central MS Access database to manage all FHOG claims and disbursements.

The system was designed to:

  • Enforce segregation of duties between claim entry and payment authorisation, reducing internal fraud risk
  • Provide a structured workflow for capturing claim details, validating eligibility, and authorising disbursements
  • Generate scheduled daily, weekly, and monthly reports to track disbursements, flag anomalies, and support compliance audits
  • Ensure tamper-resistant audit logs of all actions to support internal risk and regulatory reviews

The Add-In ensured rapid adoption while meeting IT security standards for data handling and task-level access control.

Results

  • Reduced FHOG claims processing time by over 80%
  • Achieved full separation of duties between claim processing and payment authorisation
  • Eliminated unauthorised payments and improved fraud detection through access controls
  • Enabled accurate and timely regulatory reporting with built-in compliance reporting tools
  • Gained internal audit approval as a compliant tactical control solution for grant disbursements

Technology

Excel | VBA | MS Access

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