“We have been working closely with Ofcom to develop guidance for the online safety bill to ensure social media companies are held to account for any breaches of financial promotions rules on their platforms.”
Government’s role
Pimfa said it has also repeatedly urged the government to provide more funding and resources 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.
“In order to eradicate fraud, Pimfa believes there must be a role for the FCA in helping to identify instances of fraud that introduce obvious harm to financial services consumers, a more centralised approach to combatting fraud and much more international cooperation,” Roberts said.
“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.”
Pimfa is also urging the government to create a single body responsible for fraud across the country to ensure a more holistic and organised approach.
It said this would help to resolve the overly complex approach to tackling fraud that currently exists with multiple agencies and government departments holding various responsibilities.
While the recently announced ban on cold calling is welcome, Pimfa also called for much greater international cooperation in combating fraud given its global nature.
A government spokesperson said: “This government is absolutely committed to cracking down on scams and we continue to work intensively with partners to protect the public from fraud.
“Platforms will have to quickly tackle criminal activity once alerted to its presence and will not be allowed to promote it in their algorithms.”
The online safety bill gives Ofcom powers to take enforcement action against companies which do not comply with their new duties and protect users from harm.
“We’re also investing £100mn to create a National Fraud Squad with 400 new officers and are deploying the UK Intelligence Community to relentlessly pursue criminals wherever they are in the world,” the spokesperson added.
sonia.rach@ft.com
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