A series of updates to the CRM Code will enhance protections against APP scams, while enabling more firms to sign up to its vital protections
London, 28 April 2022: The Lending Standards Board (LSB) has today published a series of updates to the Contingent Reimbursement Model Code (the CRM Code) to further strengthen what is the only set of protections of its kind for tackling Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams.
The three most significant updates to the Code will help improve customers’ understanding of how firms are assessing APP scam cases, help prevent scams and, make the Code accessible and relevant to a wider range of firms.
The CRM Code, launched in 2019 and overseen by the LSB, requires signatory firms to detect, prevent, and respond to APP scams. Signatory firms also make a commitment to reimburse customers who lose money in cases where they were not to blame for the success of a scam.
The first of today’s updates builds on the work the LSB has been doing to ensure that customers are given a clear explanation to help them understand reimbursement decisions made by firms signed up to the CRM Code.
Another significant update comes via the activation of the ‘Confirmation of Payee’ (CoP) requirements for all signatory firms.
CoP is a way of checking that a recipient’s name and account number match. Firms that implement this can warn customers when there is not a match. CoP is a way of giving customers greater assurance that they are sending money to the right place and helping to avoid payments being misdirected, either accidentally or as part of an APP scam.
Recognising the impact that wider participation in the Code will have on customer protection, the LSB have also adjusted provisions within the Code to allow more firms to sign up, whilst maintaining the highest of standards.
Emma Lovell, Chief Executive of the LSB, said: “Today’s updates will up firms’ scam prevention efforts, ensure a wider spread of customers are protected from scams, and will help build transparency and understanding between firms and their customers.
“Stopping scams from occurring in the first place is of upmost importance, an aim that should be shared by all. Ultimately, prevention of scams removes the stress and shame that comes with being scammed in the first place, and from a wider societal point of view, it stops such scams from being used to fund serious and organised crime.
“The rise and success of scams is not an issue financial services firms can solve on their own. By point-of-payment it is often too late – with victims socially engineered to proceed with the scam no matter what. We are therefore also calling on social media platforms, telecommunications companies, and utilities to step up and increase their efforts to intervene at every opportunity.”
