Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Banking customers who suffer economic abuse will be able to hide harmful messages delivered through payment references when receiving money into their accounts with UK building society Nationwide.
Payment references on transactions are normally used as an aide-memoire for the purpose of the payment, such as “rent” or “Christmas present”. But they can also be subverted by a current or former partner to deliver abusive or triggering messages to the recipient.
Maintenance or child support payments can even be divided into smaller sums by abusers, each carrying a payment reference that prolongs malicious, manipulative or intrusive messaging.
Until now, recipients have been unable to switch off this messaging route, as they easily can with phone messaging apps such as WhatsApp or other apps. Nationwide this week became the first high street lender to launch a muting feature, allowing payments to continue while blocking references.
Kathryn Townsend, head of customer vulnerability at Nationwide, said: “Domestic abuse doesn’t stop and start at physical harm. It can reach into everyday systems, including banking. When applied, the ‘hide reference’ feature puts control back with the customer, where it belongs.”
Research by Surviving Economic Abuse, a UK charity that helps those who have disclosed or shown signs of abuse, estimates that one in six women in the UK has experienced economic abuse by a current or former partner.
This form of abuse is recognised in law and defined in the Domestic Abuse Act (2021). It frequently involves a current or former partner controlling someone’s money and finances, as well as access to transport, technology, property or daily essentials.
Starling, the online bank founded in 2014, launched a similar tool in 2023 to block payment references. The following year, UK Finance, the industry body, called on all banks and building societies to develop technical features that enable customers to decide whether and how they see a payment reference.
Sam Smethers, chief executive of Surviving Economic Abuse, urged other banks and building societies to create such a tool. “For far too long, domestic abusers have exploited everyday banking tools, like payment references, to harass and control survivors even after separation.”
Nationwide last year introduced a new warning process that can be invoked to close the accounts of serial abusers who misuse payment references to maintain unwanted contact and control. In this process, banks and building societies work together by alerting lenders of accounts from which harmful messages are being sent.
