The PSR is keeping fraud front and centre with work ongoing to finalise plans that will see more incentives put into the financial system to prevent fraud from happening and to protect customers if they fall victim.
Today, Chris Hemsley, Managing Director at the PSR, delivers his speech to the Counter Fraud Conference in London talking about the importance of all parties – both within and outside of financial services – taking action to tackle fraud.
Today’s speech explores how to unlock greater collaboration and highlights the role that better information and greater transparency can play in encouraging action. It also stresses the importance of making sure that we will tackle fraud more effectively if financial incentives also better align with the interests of customers.
Chris Hemsley says:
“We are pushing hard to make sure that all payment firms do everything they can to limit a fraudsters’ ability to access the UK banking system and their ability to move money into their control.
“This is a significant step in the right direction, but it isn't the whole picture. To ensure success we need to work to tackle the whole ecosystem – from fraud origination, enforcement and repatriation of funds.”
Today’s speech highlights three key areas that will also play a key role in helping deliver the right outcomes for everyone:
- Greater transparency, particularly on how well social media firms are managing the risks caused by their platforms.
- Bringing all payment firms into these arrangements, so that all firms face sharper incentives to take action to prevent fraud.
- Informing and empowering customers to make good decisions.
On financial incentives, Chris Hemsley says:
“While we are pushing transparency and the power of reputation to unlock action, our approach is also firmly rooted in aligning the financial incentives on all parties to act. An approach we can use where our powers allow us to do so. A key part of this is the introduction of mandatory standards of customer protection.
“The Financial Services and Markets Bill (FSMB) provisions, which are currently before Parliament, will enable us to use powers to introduce minimum standards of protection for victims of APP fraud. This will allow us to radically shift the incentives on all payments firms to act.”
The PSR consulted last September on a number of measures around fraud prevention through reputational and financial incentives, mandatory protections for all customers and measures to help people understand how their banks respond to cases of APP scams.
The regulator is reviewing the submissions received and will be setting out its final policy position in May. This will mean the PSR will be ready to act as soon as the FSMB receives Royal Assent and becomes law, enabling the regulator to enact the new requirements on financial firms.
You can read the full speech below: