TSB announces UK’s first Fraud Refund Guarantee to protect customers

• First bank to commit to covering customers against all types of transactional fraud losses.
• One in four Brits impacted by online fraud in 2018.
• Part of TSB’s continued fight against fraud through Fraud Prevention, Protecting Customers and Pursuing Criminals.

TSB has today announced a UK banking first, a Fraud Refund Guarantee, to ensure the Bank’s 5.2 million customers are protected if they are an innocent victim of fraud – whether it’s unauthorised transactions on their accounts or customers tricked into authorising payments to fraudsters¹.

TSB’s announcement marks a significant step-change in banking, where today customers are only refunded for fraud losses in limited circumstances. Moving forward, TSB’s customers will be refunded for any loss they’ve suffered from their account as a result of third-party fraud.

Bank fraud is a rapidly growing problem and has a devastating effect on consumers across the UK. As people are increasingly going digital and online shopping has doubled over the past five years, the propensity for fraud has also increased as has the sophisticated means by which consumers are targeted – with one in four Brits falling victim to online fraud last year². Statistics released by UK Finance show that over £1.2 billion was stolen by criminals committing bank fraud last year.

TSB’s Executive Chairman, Richard Meddings said: “The vast majority of fraud claims across UK banking are from innocent victims of fraud, who have been targeted by criminals and organised gangs. However, all too often these customers must fight to be refunded and are not treated as victims of crime.

“We want to provide peace of mind to our customers, that’s why we’re proud to announce the TSB Fraud Refund Guarantee. If a TSB customer innocently suffers a fraud loss on their account after being targeted by a criminal, we’ll cover it.”

TSB’s Fraud Refund Guarantee is just one of the many ways the Bank is tackling the issue of fraud head-on. TSB is taking a targeted approach to combat fraud which includes:

• Prevention through increased fraud education reaching local communities right across the UK;
• Protecting Customers through multi-million-pound investment in fraud detection measures; and
• Pursuing Fraudsters by partnering with local police forces to hunt down the criminals that target consumers. TSB’s partnership with local police forces has resulted in multiple arrests and successful prosecutions.

TSB’s Fraud Refund Guarantee will come into effect 14 April 2019 and TSB will be communicating its terms to its customers.

¹ TSB customers will be covered for third party fraud loss that occurs on their TSB account
² Shieldpay