People with UK bank account slapped with £85,000 warning after rule change

The UK is reportedly poised to slash the amount banks must refund to fraud victims. The regulator said to be planning cut to maximum amount available to victims from £415,000 to about £85,000 - in a major blow to bank account holders.

At the end of last year, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) said it was “leading the way globally” on combatting APP fraud and could confirm “the maximum level of reimbursement per claim will be set at £415,000”, with the new regime coming into force on 7 October 2024.

But dozens of companies have been lobbying the regulator to slash the £415,000 threshold and delay the changes to give firms more time to prepare. The Financial Times reported that the regulator was set to dramatically scale back its measures.

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The FT said the new maximum fraud payout was now expected to be set at £85,000. The PSR previously said: “The maximum level of reimbursement has attracted a particularly high level of feedback, and involves difficult trade-offs”, and it “may consult on revising the level ahead of October if there is convincing evidence to do so”.

The PSR said: "We remain committed to supporting industry with the interpretation and consistent application of the new reimbursement requirement. We will set up a clarifications process in the first quarter of 2024 to encourage a consistent approach to implementation across industry.

"The legal instruments we have published alongside this policy statement set out the obligations Pay.UK and directed PSPs must comply with by the start date of 7 October 2024." and it went on to say: "We will create a compliance-monitoring regime to assess whether Pay.UK is complying with the obligations set out in the section 55 specific requirement and the specific direction to Pay.UK."

Last week the PSR said on LinkedIn that in a few days’ time it was planning to publish a number of documents on APP scams.