On the day that the United Kingdom heads to the polls to vote in the General Election, The Payments Association has issued a plea to the incoming Chancellor to impose a ‘Tech Levy’ on social media giants to pay for the impact of payments fraud originating from their platforms.
The Association says Big tech companies should be forced to pay compensation to victims of fraud on the basis of the ‘polluter pays’ principle.
The lobby group has also been increasingly vocal on the reimbursement rules set to be introduced by the Payment Systems Regulator which have set a maximum mandatory refund by banks for APP fraud victims to £415,000. The Payments Association is instead calling for the threshold to be substantiallyy watered down to a £30,000 maximum.
The Association has also called for the appointment of a dedicated Anti-Fraud minister who would coordinate cross-departmental activities to ensure all parties bear some responsibility for the evolving threat of fraud.
The Labour Party is currently on course for a landslide victory in today’s polls. Draft plans from the left-leaning party have indicated that it believes the PSR’s rules to be “unfair and unsustainable” and that tech companies should shoulder the burden of compensating fraud victims.
In its letter to the incoming Chancellor, the Payments Association has also called for the the publication of an ambitious, whole-ecosystem National Payments Vision and Strategy, the delivery of the next phase of open banking and open finance, and the adoption of legislative measures towards the creation of a proper digital asset ecosystem that embraces web3, DeFi and smart contract standards.
Tony Craddock, director general of The Payments Association, says: “A clear vision and strategy from the new Government will generate significant investment and promote the UK’s position as the global payments leader solidified and see sustained growth in every UK region.
“We especially hope the Chancellor sees the benefits of lowering the threshold for mandatory reimbursement of an APP fraud claim and potentially introduce a dedicated Anti-Fraud Minster. The current landscape is all too easy for fraudsters to navigate and the PSR’s proposed changes to will only serve to exacerbate the situation. Swift action as proposed in our letter is necessary to mitigate the potential threats once the changes are introduced on October 7th.”
