On 11 February 2021, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) issued two calls for views seeking greater protections for people using payment systems: one relating to the protections against authorised push payment (APP) scams, and the other looking more broadly at consumer protection in interbank (bank-to-bank) payments.
In the call for views on APP scams the PSR sets out three potential measures that would apply to payments made through Faster Payments and Bacs Direct Credit:
- Making sure everyone can see how banks and building societies handle APP scams, by requiring them to publish their APP scam data, including reimbursement and repatriation levels.
- Making it harder for fraudsters, by requiring banks and building societies to adopt a standardised approach to sharing data which will help identify these scams to stop them from happening in the first place.
- Extending customer protection across all banks and building societies at a minimum standard by changing payment system rules.
In the call for views on interbank payments the PSR is keen to understand whether the protections currently in place are sufficient. The PSR is exploring how it, together with the industry, can ensure that consumers and businesses are not disproportionately harmed when something goes wrong with their interbank payment.
The deadline for comments on both calls for views is 8 April 2021.