Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to take steps with the Payment Systems Regulator to increase the compensation available to people affected by authorised push payment fraud.

The Government takes the issue of fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this devastating crime. We have now introduced legislation in the Financial Services and Markets Bill which enables the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to mandate banks to reimburse victims of Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud. Moreover, the legislation also specifies that the PSR must mandate reimbursement for payments made via the Faster Payments system within 6 months of the legislation coming into effect. This will ensure the vast majority of victims are protected to a swift timescale.

We expect that this legislation will result in more consistent and comprehensive reimbursement outcomes, ensuring victims are not left out of pocket through no fault of their own. The Government will also continue its work across Departments to tackle APP fraud at the source, and will shortly publish a comprehensive Fraud Strategy to detail our ongoing and upcoming actions.