(4 October 2024 – United Kingdom) The UK Treasury will grant banks the authority to delay payments by up to 72 hours to investigate suspected fraud or scams.
Under the proposed legislation, payment service providers (PSPs) can implement a delay if there are reasonable grounds to suspect a payment is fraudulent. PSPs must inform the payer as soon as possible, provide a reason for the delay, and request any necessary information to decide whether to process the payment.
This amendment to the 2017 Payment Services Regulations follows a year in which UK bank fraud losses exceeded £1 billion, with a significant portion attributed to Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams. The Payment Systems Regulator has also introduced APP reimbursement legislation, effective from 7 October, reducing the reimbursement limit to £85,000.