I've expressed before my surprise at the way the banks have been able to walk away from the high street with barely a comment, let alone criticism, from politicians.
The result of this move has been to force people into banking online, some of whom have little knowledge of the digital world and are not street smart, web smart or whatever we want to call it,
At least, I have thought till now, the banks are good at reimbursing customers who've been the victim of fraud.
Now come news from the Guardian that an organisation called the Payment Services Regulator is poised to slash the amount it was planning to require banks to refund the victims of fraud - from £415,000 to about £85,000 "after strong lobbying from lenders, fintechs* and some politicians", the paper's report says.
The Guardian goes on to say:
Consumer groups and others have been eagerly awaiting the regime’s October start date and the higher threshold, and any decision to cut it after lobbying by banks is likely to trigger a major row.
But will it? The politicians who have been lobbying for a less generous scheme include, not only wicked old Tories from the last government, but Labour figures in the new one.
With Labour determined upon higher economic growth, without having a strategy for achieving it beyond establishing 'stability', there's a danger that the policy will come to mean giving business whatever it asks for.
We saw how that ended last time Labour were in power.
And if people put off financial transactions because they are afraid of being defrauded, that can only slow growth. So let's hope Labour finds the courage to support banks' customers rather than bankers.
* 'Fintechs'? I believe this is a running together of 'financial technology companies'.
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