Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to have discussions with the major banks about the use of contactless credit cards for sums under £30 and the ease with which such cards might be misused.

Treasury ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. This includes regular meetings with consumer organisations to discuss relevant regulatory issues, including consumer protection on payment instruments.

Government takes all fraud extremely seriously. In February 2016 the government set up the Joint Fraud Taskforce, which aims to use the collective powers, systems and resources of banks, payment providers, police, wider law enforcement and regulators to tackle fraud, and raise awareness of the risk of fraud among consumers.

The Taskforce is currently focused on: developing a national fraud prevention campaign to provide targeted advice to the public; improving the police response to fraud at national, regional and local level; exploring ways in which more victims of fraud can have their losses repaid; removing vulnerabilities fraudsters exploit to commit certain types of fraud; and, improving support for victims of fraud which will ensure a consistent response including for those who may be more vulnerable or susceptible to fraud.

Industry statistics received from Financial Fraud Action UK indicate that in the first half of 2016 there were £2.9 million losses attributed to fraud on contactless cards compared to a spend of £9.27 billion. This is just 0.031% of spending on contactless technology. According to the industry, fraud on contactless cards accounts for less than 1% of card fraud losses.