PIMFA has urged the Financial Conduct Authority to play a greater role in combating fraud in response to a call for evidence from the Home Affairs Committee.
Following the introduction of the Online Safety Bill and a ‘Duty of Care’ on social media websites and search engines in the UK, PIMFA has called upon the FCA to provide greater strategic support to Ofcom to prevent harm being introduced to financial services consumers and prevent scam adverts swiftly.
According to the trade association, a partnership between the FCA and Ofcom would help Ofcom better identify breaches, making the Online Safety Bill more effective in preventing fraud.
PIMFA is also calling for the Government to create a single body responsible for fraud across the country to ensure a more holistic and organised approach to the crime. It argues that this would help to resolve the “overly complex” approach to tackling fraud that currently exists with multiple agencies and government departments holding various responsibilities.
Alexandra Roberts, head of regulatory policy and compliance at PIMFA, said: “The current focus on fraud by policymakers is welcome as is the Government’s commitment to reducing fraud by 10% by 2025. But we are also concerned whether the additional resources provided will be enough to obtain the required improvement and meet the commitment to reduce fraud. For there to be a difference, we believe significantly more funding is needed.
“We have also repeatedly urged the Government to provide more funding and resource to Ofcom so that it will be able to regulate social media platforms and search engines effectively under the new powers given it by the Online Safety Bill.”
Roberts said that to eradicate fraud, there must be a role for the FCA to “identify instances of fraud that introduce obvious harm to financial services consumers, a more centralised approach to combating fraud and much more international cooperation.”
She added: “We would urge policymakers to support such proposals and will continue to work with regulators and the Government to see these reforms come into being.”
