The Payment Systems Regulator's (PSR) recent report has highlighted significant disparities among the UK's top banking groups regarding their handling of authorized push payment (APP) scams. The report, which covers the period from January to December 2022, revealed that Monzo and Danske Bank had the lowest full reimbursement rates at six and seven percent respectively.
On the other hand, TSB and Nationwide emerged as the best performers, reimbursing 94 and 91 percent of reported scams respectively. Other notable banks such as Barclays reimbursed 79% of losses, while AIB Group (OTC:AIBRF) returned only 10% of losses. The study also noted high instances of APP fraud among Metro Bank and Starling Bank customers.
The report underlined inconsistent outcomes for customers reporting APP scams, largely due to varying bank policies on reimbursements. In response to these findings, Chris Hemsley, PSR's Managing Director, announced mandatory reimbursement rules to be enforced starting in 2024. This move is aimed at standardizing consumer protection across all payment firms.
As part of these new regulations, firms will be required to publish detailed information on their APP scam handling. This initiative is supported by Rocio Concha from Which? who urged banks to improve prevention measures.
This report forms part of the PSR's prevention-focused approach towards fraud, aiming to improve transparency and prevent such frauds from happening. The PSR's report represents a call to action for UK banks to take more responsibility in protecting their customers from APP scams, particularly as fraud losses continue to reach staggering amounts.
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