Dutch banks assess impact of EU ruling on fraud compensation

Dutch banks are assessing how a European court ruling on fraud compensation affects their procedures, but the Dutch Banking Association says the judgment changes when customers are repaid, not who ultimately bears the loss. [1]

The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled last week that banks must immediately reimburse customers who suffer fraud, even if they have been seriously negligent. Banks may later seek to recover the money if they can show the customer acted intentionally or with gross negligence and that this caused the loss, the report says. [1]

The Dutch Banking Association said banks would examine the consequences individually. Its spokesperson said the ruling concerned the timing of repayment and did not change who must ultimately bear the loss. Belgium’s banking federation, Febelfin, said last week that banks would comply with the ruling. [1]

The case arose after a customer of a Polish bank lost €700 in a phishing attack. She had been misled on a sales website and clicked a link to a site resembling her bank’s; the bank refused to reimburse her. A Polish court referred the dispute to the EU court. [1]