Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to require banks to compensate victims of fraud in circumstances in which anti-fraud banking protocols have not been followed.

To protect victims against authorised push payment (APP) scams, ten of the UK’s largest banks are currently signed up to the voluntary Contingent Reimbursement Model (CRM) Code. In 2022, £248m of losses to APP scams were reimbursed to victims under the commitments of this code.

Further, through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, the government legislated to require the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to introduce mandatory reimbursement for APP scams within the Faster Payment System, where 98% of APP fraud takes place. The PSR has confirmed that mandatory reimbursement will come into force in October 2024.