On 18 November 2021, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) issued a consultation paper setting out proposals intended to stop Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams.

The PSR notes that APP scams are a major and growing problem in the UK. Every year thousands of individuals and businesses fall victim to APP scams where they are tricked into sending money to an account controlled by a fraudster. The PSR expects to see more action being taken by financial institutions to stop these scams and to better protect victims.

The PSR’s consultation paper sets out proposals including:

• Publication of fraud data by banks: The PSR will require the 12 largest payment service provider (PSP) groups in the UK and the two largest banks in Northern Ireland outside those PSP groups to publish a balanced scorecard on a six-monthly basis, setting out their performance in relation to APP scams. This will include sending PSPs’ APP scam rates, their rates of reimbursing customers scammed, which of those are members of the CRM Code, as well as comparative data on the wider set of PSPs receiving APP scam payments from the directed PSPs.
• Improve scam prevention: Industry will be tasked with improving intelligence sharing between PSPs about the riskiness of payments in order to improve scam prevention.
• Reimbursing victims: The PSR wants all customers to benefit from reimbursement protections. As this will require legislative change, the PSR is seeking views on the approach it could take to ensure it is ready to implement such change when it has the power to act.

The deadline for comments is 14 January 2022.