Santander UK to Limit Customers’ Payments to Crypto Exchanges

Noting that it can be risky to invest in cryptocurrency, British bank Santander UK has announced that it will begin limiting the amounts its customers can send to cryptocurrency exchanges.

The restrictions will begin Nov. 15 and will be applied to payments that the bank identifies as going to crypto exchanges using mobile and online banking, Santander UK said in a notice to customers posted on its website.

When sending money to crypto exchanges, customers will be restricted to a limit of 1,000 pounds ($1,118) per transaction and a total limit of 3,000 pounds ($3,355) in any rolling 30-day period. Customers can still receive payments from crypto exchanges into their accounts.

“We want to do everything we can to protect our customers, and we feel that limiting payments to cryptocurrency exchanges is the best way to make sure your money stays safe,” the bank told its customers in the notice.

In announcing this move, Santander UK said that investing in crypto assets can be high risk, that the bank has seen a large increase in the number of customers becoming victims of crypto-related fraud. Santander UK added that the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has also warned consumers about the risks of investing in crypto assets.

Prior to this announcement, Santander UK had already stopped payments sent to Binance, following an FCA warning to consumers about that crypto exchange, according to the notice.

“We’ll be making more changes to limit or prevent payments to crypto exchanges in the future, though we’ll always let you know before we make these changes,” Santander UK told customers via the notice.

As PYMNTS reported in April, while the crypto space is beginning to come under greater scrutiny from regulatory agencies, the lack of regulatory certainty leaves opportunities for scams and fraud. The general public’s relative unfamiliarity with crypto makes it much easier for scammers to create their own exchanges expressly to scam users.