The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), the economic regulator for the £75 trillion UK payment systems industry, has received a super-complaint from Which? regarding concerns the firm has around consumer safeguards in the market for push payments.

The super-complaint, the first received by the PSR, is defined by the department for business, innovation and skills as a complaint submitted by a designated consumer body that “any feature, or combination of features, of a market in the UK for goods or services is or appears to be significantly harming the interests of consumers”.

Which? has raised concerns that when consumers are tricked into transferring money to a fraudster via a ‘push’ payment – such as when the consumer instructs their bank to send money – there is not an appropriate level of protection compared to other types of payment.

An independent consumer body, Which? has called for the PSR to conduct an investigation and has outlined a number of areas that need to be addressed, including the “extent to which banks could change their conduct to reduce consumer harm from scams that trick people into authorising push payments to a fraudster”.

They have also called on the regulator to review “possible changes to legislation or regulation, to change the incentives on banks and payment system operators, and to ensure that more is done to manage the risks from these types of scams and to protect consumer from harm”.

The PSR will now examine the evidence Which? has supplied and gather its own to build a clearer picture of the issue and decide a course of action. The PSR has 90 days to respond to the super-complaint.

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