Treasury Committee responds on IT failure and economic crime reports

The Treasury Committee has commented on the responses from Government and regulators on:

• its October report on failures in the IT industry.  The report had concluded, among other things, that:

• • regulators need to improve operational resilience in the sector as the failure levels are unacceptable;
  • levies should increase so regulators can hire appropriate staff, and regulators must use enforcement powers appropriately;
  • there is a strong case for regulation of the concentrated cloud services sector; and
  • firms must resolve customer complaints and award compensation quickly.

The Committee is pleased that responses recognised the importance of the operational resilience of the sector and protection of consumers, and that Government is looking closely at how to implement the Committee’s recommendations.

• its November report on the consumer views on the effects of economic crime. The Committee had recommended:
  • a compulsory Contingent Reimbursement Model;
  • possible retrospective reimbursement of push-payment fraud victimes;
  • a 24-hour delay on all first time payments;
  • sanctions for firms who miss the COP deadline;
  • targeted information campaigns for potential money mules; and
  • more transparency on de-risking.

The Committee is not so pleased with the Government’s reaction to these recommendations- in particular, it is not happy that the Government has made no commitment to making the Contingent Reimbursement Model compulsory.