Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the effectiveness of the (a) regulatory oversight and (b) accountability of Cifas.

The Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance Scheme (CIFAS) is the UK’s fraud prevention service. Services like CIFAS play a crucial role in safeguarding against financial fraud, supporting the Government’s broader efforts to protect individuals and businesses from these crimes.

When a financial institution suspects fraudulent activity, they can register a "marker" against a customer's credit report on the National Fraud Database, which is managed by CIFAS. As stated on their website, the markers themselves are not created by CIFAS, but rather by the financial institutions who suspect fraud. CIFAS only provides the infrastructure for these markers to be registered and accessed by other members.

We do not have plans to introduce statutory requirements for financial firms to notify people when a CIFAS marker has been assigned. If an individual believes that a CIFAS marker has been incorrectly assigned, they should first raise it with the organisation that recorded it to the CIFAS database for them to review. If they do not remove the marker then the individual can go directly to CIFAS. The individual can also apply to have a further review conducted by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

The Treasury has not assessed the potential merits of bringing CIFAS under the regulatory remit of the Financial Conduct Authority.