UK Sets New Rules on Surging Payments Sector After Client Losses

The UK’s financial watchdog imposed new rules on the payments sector aimed at protecting customer funds, the latest effort by the regulator to rein in an industry criticized for poor anti-fraud controls and reckless risk taking.

Payments firms will have to carry out annual audits ensuring those funds are safe under rules starting next year, according to a statement from the Financial Conduct Authority. Companies in the sector that collapsed during 2018 and 2023 had an average 65% shortfall of consumers’ money, it said.