British bank NatWest restricted customers' work with cryptocurrency
British bank NatWest imposed restrictions on transfers of funds to cryptocurrency exchanges
One of the UK's largest commercial banks has set limits on transfers of funds to cryptocurrency exchanges
One of Britain's largest commercial banks NatWest has imposed restrictions on the transfer of funds from customers to cryptocurrency exchanges, reports Reuters. Since March 14, the bank has set a daily limit of £1,000 and a monthly limit of £5,000 on transfers of funds to cryptocurrency exchanges.
The restrictions were introduced to protect customers from "crypto criminals," the bank explained. According to NatWest, last year Britons lost £329 million because of cryptocurrency-related crimes. And the rising cost of living has exacerbated the problem as criminals lure their victims with the promise of high profits.
"We have seen an increase in fraudsters using cryptocurrency exchanges, and we are acting to protect our customers," said NatWest head of fraud protection Stuart Skinner.
The UK authorities have repeatedly stated their intention to make the country a leader in the crypto industry and create conditions for the operation and development of cryptocurrency companies. However, local banks and payment services increasingly restrict retail investors from working with digital assets.
In early March, it became known that two British banks - Nationwide Building Society and HSBC - banned customers from buying cryptocurrency using credit cards. Nationwide also introduced a daily limit of £5,000 on the purchase of cryptocurrencies from debit cards. Both banks cited warnings from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on the high riskiness of crypto-assets.
On March 13 Paysafe stopped supporting transactions in the British pound for clients of the Binance exchange, having named the reason as a too complicated an approach of UK regulators to cryptocurrencies.
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