Banking lobby UK Finance has floated the idea of imposing a universal tax on funds transfers which banks could dip into to compensate victims of push payments fraud Push payments fraud which happens when businesses or individuals are conned into sending money to a fraudulent account to pay for goods or services has become a political hot potato in UK financial circles Statistics released by UK Finance show that in the first half of 2018 consumers lost 929 million because of this type of fraud The UKs Payment Systems regulator has been working with banks and consumer groups to develop an industry code for reimbursing victims of APP scams Last month saw the publication of a draft voluntary code drawn up by a steering group of UK banks and consumer rights campaigners One sticking point which has yet to be resolved occurs in instances where a victim of an APP scam has met their requisite level of care and so should be reimbursed but no bank or other Payment Service Provider involved in the payment journey has breached their own level of care In a presentation to The UKs treasury Select Committee UK Finance chief Stephen Jones suggested that a tiny levy on each payment made in the UK could be a suitable mechanism to resolve the deadlock Customers will pay if the banks have to pay Jones told MPS Theres no such thing as a free lunch here Its a question of how can the cost be fairly distributed across the system