UK banks will be given an extra 72 hours to stall payments if they suspect authorised push payment fraud.
The UK Government has confirmed that it will introduce a draft bill to deal with APP fraud, where customers are tricked into sending payments to scammers. This follows an alarming rise in the scams, which cost victims £485 million in 2022.
The extended timeline for processing payments is intended to give banks more leeway to investigate payments where they believe a suspected fraud may be in operation. Until now banks have generally been required to process payments by the end of the following business day.
Speaking at a global fraud summit hosted by the Government, City minister Bim Afolami says: “Fraudsters spin whole webs of lies and fabricate all sorts of things to convince people to send them money.
“This legislation will give banks, other payment service providers and law enforcement more time to get in touch with victims and break the fraudster’s spell before money is sent.”
Set for passing into Parliamentary law by early October, the draft bill will also incorporate recommendations from the Payment Systems regulator that will see the vast majority of money lost – up to a maximum £450,000 – to APP fraud reimbursed to victims.
