Consumer complaints outfit Which? has accused banks of treating authorised fraud victims unfairly, with some firms getting decisions over scams and reimbursement wrong in nearly nine in 10 cases.
Up to three quarters of APP fraud cases referred to the Banking Ombudsman found in favour of the customer after the banks involved initially rejected applications for reimbursement.
Figures obtained by Which? show that NatWest and The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) - part of the same banking group - are getting it wrong in nearly nine in 10 (86%) cases, with Santander (82%) and Bank of Scotland (81%) following closely behind. While challenger bank Starling (80%) also had a high complaint uphold rate, this was based on a much smaller number of closed cases than other firms.
Fraud complaints against Lloyds Bank (78%), Revolut (77%) and Nationwide (74%) are also being upheld in favour of the victim.
Which? has called for much greater transparency about firms’ behaviour and approach to reimbursement - which would require the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to make banks regularly publish data, including their reimbursement rates for all of the APP fraud cases they handle each year. It is also calling on the Government to introduce mandatory APP fraud reimbursement obligations on all firms using Faster Payments, with a robust regime of regulatory oversight and enforcement.
Jenny Ross, Which? Money Editor, says: "It’s shocking that so many banks are failing to handle cases correctly, often wrongly and unfairly denying victims reimbursement. It’s clear banks can’t be trusted to make the right decision when it comes to reimbursing their customers who’ve fallen victim to APP scams."