BANKING INDUSTRY COMMITS TO SUPPORTING CUSTOMERS WHO DEPEND ON CASH 

UK Finance and the largest retail banks and building societies have made five commitments to continue to preserve access to cash for consumers and businesses over the long term. The financial institutions which have signed up to these commitments are Barclays Bank UK plc, Coventry Building Society, HSBC UK Bank plc, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide Building Society, NatWest Group plc, Santander UK plc, and TSB bank plc.

The five commitments:

• ensuring that cash will be available for those who need it, particularly small businesses, the elderly and vulnerable, when they need it
• supporting the Community Access to Cash Pilots
• working together to consider possible models for future access to cash which address changing access requirements and meet the needs of customers and communities
• protecting current critical infrastructure until a viable alternative is available
• establishing and maintaining a framework to enable early identification of potential cash ?cold spots?.

David Postings, Chief Executive at UK Finance said:

?The banking and finance industry is committed to making sure there is access to cash for those who need it as we recognise that cash is still an important way to pay for many. It is fantastic news that the government has moved swiftly to allow cashback without purchase which, alongside other initiatives, will help customers who might be less confident using other types of payments.? 

GOVERNMENT PUBLISHES DRAFT ONLINE SAFETY BILL

New laws to tackle financial fraud have been proposed in the government's draft Online Safety Bill, as social media sites, websites and apps that host user generated content will be required to ?remove and limit the spread of illegal and harmful content? (Financial Times). Published yesterday, the Bill aims to clamp down on investment fraud and romance scams and ministers have given the media regulator, Ofcom, the power to block access to sites and fine companies if they fail in their duty of care.

However, several organisations have warned that the Bill does not go far enough in addressing financial fraud, as criminals will still be able to target victims with scams via digital ads and websites (Daily Mail).

David Postings, Chief Executive of UK Finance, said:
?We're pleased that the upcoming Online Safety Bill will tackle some aspects of fraud, but it won't protect people from all fraud that takes place online. As more of us have shifted online because of the pandemic, we've seen a spike in money mule activity, investment and purchase scams over the last year because criminals can target people directly in their homes across online platforms. Whilst the Bill includes fraud via user generated content on social media sites and dating apps, it won't cover cloned websites and online adverts which fraudsters pay for. 

"We encourage government to include all economic crime within the Bill when it is formally introduced. Not doing so leaves a large proportion of the public at high risk of being scammed online, because criminals are experts in adapting their tactics to exploit any loopholes.?

NEWS IN BRIEF

Two members of an organised crime group (OCG) have been sentenced at Southwark Crown Court for their involvement in committing £1.1 million of fraud, following a successful investigation by the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU), a specialist City of London and Metropolitan police unit funded by the banking and cards industry.

According to a survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), 75 per cent of respondents reported an increase in UK house prices last month, up from 62 per cent in March, due to a slowdown in the supply of new homes coming to market (City AM).

Jonathan Haskel, a Bank of England policymaker, said yesterday that he was not too concerned about the medium-term inflation outlook but would watch out for the economic damage caused by the pandemic to Britain's productive capacity (Reuters).

The prime minister Boris Johnson told MPs yesterday that he intends to end the work from home guidance on 21 June if the roadmap out of Covid-19 restrictions goes to plan (Sky News).

According to the latest small business barometer from Barclaycard Payments, small firms are predicting a 9.8 per cent surge in revenues in the second quarter of this year compared with the previous quarter (Belfast Telegraph).