(Note: the below is a high level review of certain potential issues and is not to be relied upon in any definitive manner nor as legal and/or regulatory advice).
The FCA’s report card on the UK mobile banking and payments space
There has been quite a lot of discussion recently about the UK being an innovator’s friend when it comes to financial regulation. Key regulators and politicians have been leading the charge – as shown by the FCA’s “Project Innovate”, as well as the UK’s Chancellors ambition for the UK to lead the world in developing FinTech.
Within this background, it was interesting to read the FCA’s report and findings following a thematic review on mobile banking and payments. Just how well is the UK market doing in delivering remote banking and payment services?
On the whole – it seems quite well.
Key findings
In general terms, the FCA findings were positive. They found that firms are giving good advice to consumers when using mobile banking and payment services, particularly on how a consumer should protect their remote access devices, but also in areas such as consumer rights in the case of fraud. The FCA also noted that it did not consider there to be any real cause for concern when it came to firms mishandling unauthorised payments.
Other encouraging comments came via the FCA’s finding good evidence of firms employing appropriate security and carrying out proper due diligence when engaging outsourced service providers.
Takeaways
We see a key benefit of this report as providing new entrants into the market, particularly those that may be unfamiliar with the FCA and its regulations, with an outline of the key issues that financial regulators focus on in this space. Such matters should be at the forefront of businesses when implementing and carrying out their compliance programmes.