Co-op Bank becomes ninth firm to sign industry fraud code

The Code, which is governed by the Lending Standards Board, sets standards to detect and prevent Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams and provides a commitment to reimburse customers who lose money through no fault of their own.

The eight existing registered firms became signatories when the Code launched in May 2019, making the Co-op Bank the first payment service provider to sign up since its launch. The LSB expects other firms to follow The Co-operative Bank as they bring their systems and processes into line with the Code’s requirements.

In the first half of 2019, 57,549 consumers lost £208m as a result of APP scams, where a customer is tricked into authorising a payment to an account that they believe belongs to a genuine payee but is in fact held by a scammer.

The CRM Code ensures that customers of registered firms will be fully refunded if an APP scam does occur, providing they did everything expected of them under the Code.

Andrew Bester, chief executive of The Co-operative Bank, said: “Protecting and supporting customers affected by scams and fraud is fundamentally important to us and we’re pleased to be the first bank since the initial launch to achieve sign-up. We’ll continue to work to ensure the best outcomes for customers who fall victim to fraud and, in line with the code, we will refund customers who are left out of pocket through no fault of their own by implementing a self-fund model to reimburse customers who lose money in a ‘no blame’ situation. We will also help customers understand more about the risk of scams and fraud, and raise awareness of the kinds of things that customers should be looking out for to help them avoid this type of situation.”