The United Kingdom’s Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has announced that its mandatory reimbursement rules for authorised push payment (APP) fraud are producing clear overall benefits for consumers and the wider payments sector. Authorized push payment scams occur when individuals are tricked into authorizing transfers directly to fraudsters, often through impersonation tactics or urgent requests.
The PSR’s policy, which took effect on 7 October 2024 for Faster Payments transactions, requires payment service providers to reimburse most victims.
Costs are typically shared between the sending and receiving institutions, with safeguards for vulnerable customers and limited exceptions designed to maintain personal responsibility.
An independent evaluation by Frontier Economics, published by the PSR on 1 July 2026, provides robust evidence of the policy’s early success.
APP fraud losses routed through Faster Payments have fallen by roughly 21%, equating to an annual reduction of approximately £73 million.
The number of individual APP scams has decreased by nearly 35,000 cases.
Reimbursement outcomes have improved substantially. Recovery rates across all reported claims rose from 54% before the rules to 65% afterwards.
For claims covered by the policy, firms are now reimbursing victims in 97% of cases.
Payment providers that previously recorded the highest fraud volumes have shown the largest gains in both prevention and compliance.
Even after accounting for extra costs borne by payment firms—such as investments in detection systems and reimbursement payments—the policy delivers a positive short-term net economic benefit estimated at £17 million to £29 million.
The review found no evidence of banks exiting the market or consumers becoming less vigilant with their payments.
David Geale, Managing Director at the PSR, stated that the data clearly demonstrates the approach is working: fraud losses are declining, more victims are recovering funds, and firms are strengthening their prevention efforts.
He added that the regulator remains committed to further improvements rather than becoming complacent.
These findings are supported by the PSR’s ongoing APP scams reimbursement dashboard, which shows consistently high reimbursement rates (around 89% of losses returned to victims since the policy began) and rapid claim processing, with over 80% resolved within five business days.
The PSR has noted some inconsistencies in how individual firms implement the rules, which can result in different outcomes for consumers depending on their provider.
To address this, the UK regulator has published a roadmap of next steps and will launch a consultation before the end of the year on measures to improve consistency.
It also plans to publish new data on the platforms most commonly used by fraudsters and to work more closely with technology companies and telecommunications providers to tackle the problem at source.
This independent assessment underscores that well-designed regulatory requirements can effectively reduce financial harm from APP scams while encouraging better industry practices, without creating significant unintended side effects. As fraud methods continue to adapt, the PSR’s balanced approach offers a model for protecting the public and reinforcing confidence in UK payment systems.