Description

Fraudsters seeking to get their hands on money in a bank account have two main options: deceive the account-holder or the bank into making a payment to them. The former is known as an authorised payment scam and the latter as an unauthorised payment scam. The distinction is significant for who bears the risk of loss: bank or customer, bearing in mind that the fraudster will invariably either disappear or squander the funds. Prima facie, liability for an authorized payment scam falls on the customer. UK statistics suggest a significant increase in authorised payment scams, which may be associated with the advent of electronic payments. As a result, the UK has embarked on a number of measures to combat such scams. Singapore and Australia have also taken steps to address the problem of misdirected electronic payments. The seminar will examine how jurisdictions are responding to the growth in the authorized payment scams. It will also consider why the payment services industry should take greater responsibility for preventing authorized payment scams.

About The Speaker

Dr Sandra Booysen is an Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore and Deputy Director of the Centre for Banking and Finance Law in the Faculty of Law. Sandra serves on the editorial board of two academic journals: the Singapore Journal of Legal Studies and Brill’s Research Perspectives: International Banking and Securities Law. Sandra’s research interests straddle private law, particularly contract, banking law and the intersection of the two. Sandra’s most recent publication, in the Law Quarterly Review (July 2019), examines the role of the courts in protecting consumers in the bank-customer contract. Sandra has co-edited a volume Can Banks Still Keep a Secret? Bank Secrecy in Financial Centres Around the World, published by Cambridge University Press and is currently working on a project that investigates the protection of retail investors from the mis-selling of financial products. Sandra studied at Rhodes University and the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, before practicing law in London and Johannesburg, with a focus on commercial litigation. She is admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales, and as an attorney and notary in South Africa. Sandra completed her LLM and doctoral studies at the National University of Singapore under Professor Peter Ellinger.

Who Should Attend

Academics, banking lawyers, in-house bank counsel, policymakers