Latest Payments News: Success Of UK APP Fraud Regime Still An Open Question, and more

Catch up on some of the stories our payments compliance analysts have covered lately, and stay up-to-date on the latest news.

Success Of UK APP Fraud Regime Still An Open Question

More than a year after the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) introduced its authorised push payment (APP) fraud reimbursement framework, debate over its efficacy and fairness continues, and its future remains uncertain.

The reimbursement regime was introduced with the aim of promoting fairness – large sending banks previously bore full liability, despite the role of receiving banks in facilitating fraudulent activity.

The regulator viewed APP fraud as a significant threat to both consumers and payment service providers (PSPs). Crimes such as romance scams can be devastating for victims, both financially and personally, while UK financial institutions also suffer substantial losses from increasingly sophisticated fraud tactics.

The PSR sought to share the responsibility for reimbursement and incentivise both sides of the transaction to scrutinise it for signs of fraud.

Speaking on a panel at the Payments Association’s Financial Crime 360 event in early November 2025, Mark Thynne, senior manager, enforcement and compliance monitoring at the PSR, said the policy has resulted in significant reimbursement for consumers.

This position is supported by data published by the PSR in September 2025, which showed that 88 percent of the money lost to APP scams within the scope of the policy, amounting to £112m, was returned to victims.

Thynne noted that an independent review of the first year of the APP fraud reimbursement policy is underway, with the results due in spring 2026.

US Open Banking Rule Highlights Industry Divisions Over Data And Fees

By defining who can access consumer data, whether fees are allowed and compliance timelines, the Personal Financial Data Rights final rule (PFDR Rule) underscores continuing legal and market tensions between banks and fintech innovators.

At the end of October 2025, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) closed the comment period on key issues relating to its revised PFDR Rule.

The PFDR Rule is designed to implement Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act, the foundational law of the US open banking ecosystem.

Though the law was enacted by Congress in 2010, it did not become a major point of contention among financial institutions until October 2024, when the CFPB published its final PFDR Rule.

On the day it came into effect, the rule was immediately challenged in court by Forcht Bank, the Kentucky Bankers Association, and the Bank Policy Institute (BPI). The plaintiffs argued that it exceeds the CFPB’s statutory authority.

In July 2025 the current CFPB leadership petitioned the court to stay the litigation on the grounds that it would initiate a new “accelerated” rulemaking process that will lead to a “substantially revised” rule.

The closure of the comment period potentially marks the last opportunity for financial institutions to influence the rule’s provisions outside of court.

However, the sticking points among banks and fintechs remain unresolved, with no immediate prospect of reconciliation.

Belarus Moves To Centralise Crypto Under State Supervision

The Belarusian National Bank is seeking to evolve the country’s crypto framework, tightening the authoritarian government’s grip on the sector and signalling a new phase in its ongoing experiment with digital assets.

The bank’s plans to establish a special working group to combat illegal cryptocurrency operations could pave the way for potential new ventures such as the creation of crypto banks.

The initiative follows a meeting between the National Bank, commercial banks and crypto market participants in October, where regulators expressed concern over unauthorised transactions and the withdrawal of stolen funds.

According to the bank’s first deputy chairman, Alexander Egorov, the working group will focus on preventing the misuse of digital assets for cross-border payments and money laundering.

The announcement comes as Belarus, an authoritarian state under Western sanctions and closely aligned with Russia, seeks to consolidate control over its financial system.

Since 2017, when President Alexander Lukashenko’s government first legalised cryptocurrencies through a Decree No. 8 on the Development of the Digital Economy, the country has moved steadily from liberalisation toward central oversight – a shift that now places crypto firmly under state supervision.

Cryptocurrency exchanges in Belarus are permitted to operate only if they are residents of the High-Tech Park (HTP), a special tax and legal regime.

In September 2024, Belarus banned individuals and individual entrepreneurs residing in the HTP from trading cryptocurrencies outside Belarusian crypto exchanges.

According to Ekaterina Logvinovich, a senior lawyer at the SBH Law Offices, a Minsk-based law firm, the establishment of the working group under the National Bank will facilitate the sharing of experiences among financial institutions, crypto exchanges and government agencies, thereby improving the effectiveness of practical measures to detect crime.

Despite the developed infrastructure, illegal cryptocurrency transactions are an issue in Belarus, Nikolay Artemiev, managing partner of Minsk-based law firm Art Legal told Vixio.

The key reason the National Bank wants to coordinate with the crypto community is to curb the practice of transferring stolen funds abroad via cryptocurrency, Artemiev said.

Digital Euro Enters New Phase As First Issuance Nears

By continuing to drive the digital euro forward, the EU is signalling to financial institutions that they should prepare for its introduction, despite ongoing criticism and questions about the project.

The European Central Bank’s (ECB) announcement that it has completed the preparation phase, which began two years ago, is a significant step forward for the EU’s central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The focus will now shift from designing the concept of the digital euro and preparing a rulebook to ensuring technical readiness for its first issuance.

The digital euro represents the EU’s attempt to modernise the payments system through digital assets and is intended to give consumers in the euro area access to a secure, resilient public digital payment option.

“The euro, our shared money, is a trusted sign of European unity,” said ECB president Christine Lagarde.

“We are working to make its most tangible form – euro cash – fit for the future, redesigning and modernising our banknotes and preparing for the issuance of digital cash.”

The digital euro still requires legislative approval before it can be formally introduced, a vital part of the work yet to be done.

As covered by Vixio, in October 2025, Fernando Navarrete, the MEP overseeing the digital euro legislation, announced likely deadlines for its progress, with a potential vote in the Committee on Economy and Monetary Affairs (ECON) expected by May 2026.

If legislation is introduced during 2026, a pilot exercise could begin in 2027, readying the Eurosystem for a potential first issuance of the digital euro in 2029.

US Democrats’ Letter Underscores Continuing Uncertainty At The CFPB

Open banking is one of several areas being disrupted by confusion over the future of the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), as lawmakers seek clarity on recent comments by its acting director, Russell Vought.

In their letter to Vought on October 27, 2025, the ten Democratic members of the Senate Banking Committee sought clarification on several issues, including the CFPB’s funding status and whether the agency has developed specific plans to wind down its work.

Their intervention followed public remarks Vought made on the Charlie Kirk Show podcast earlier this month, in which he stated that he plans to shut down the CFPB “within the next two or three months”.

In the letter, the senators wrote: “These comments are particularly concerning given that a federal court has specifically blocked you from illegally shutting down the agency.”

Since the second Trump administration took office, the future of the CFPB has been in doubt.

In February 2025, President Trump dismissed CFPB director Rohit Chopra and appointed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as interim head, who immediately halted all agency operations.

Vought, who also serves as director of the Office of Management and Budget, was subsequently appointed acting head. He ordered a temporary shutdown and placed the regulator’s staff on administrative leave.

Since then, the indication has been that the administration intended to maintain the CFPB on a significantly reduced scale.

In May, the bureau withdrew 67 guidance documents, including interpretive rules, policy statements and advisory opinions.

The treatment of the CFPB aligns with the broader deregulatory focus of the current administration. The agency has retreated from active rulemaking and enforcement, and has withdrawn several lawsuits and penalties initiated under the previous administration.

The latest developments may signal that the agency is close to the end of the road.

The senators concluded their letter by asking Vought to detail his plans for shutting down the CFPB by October 31, 2025.

‍

Want to know more? 

Request a demo with one of our experts today to gain full access to the stories we cover - and much more - and start learning how you can make compliance a competitive advantage for your organisation.