Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Financial Conduct Authority's powers to seek redress for the victims of financial fraud.

The Government takes the issue of fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this devastating crime.

In October 2024, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) introduced a mandatory reimbursement regime for authorised push payment (APP) scams which take place over the Faster Payments system, as required by the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA) 2023. The PSR’s regime requires payment service providers to reimburse victims for losses up to £85,000 for scams which took place after 7 October 2024.

In cases where consumers have been impacted by financial fraud and are not covered by these rules, they should contact their bank in the first instance. Victims may have access to recourse through the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which can consider individual complaints between consumers and financial firms. This includes on fraud providing the activity is within the FOS’s jurisdiction, which is set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FOS can consider whether or not the firm has acted fairly, however, any criminal investigation would be a matter for the police.

HM Treasury is working with colleagues in the Home Office as they develop a new, expanded Fraud Strategy. This will be published in due course as part of the Government’s Plan for Change and in line with our manifesto commitments.