National Westminster Bank (NatWest) has joined a growing list of UK-based financial institutions limiting customers’ crypto activities. According to a Reuters report on Tuesday, NatWest is imposing new limits on the daily and monthly amount customers can send to cryptocurrency exchanges.
NatWest Limits Crypto Payments
The report stated that account holders will now only be able to transfer a maximum of 1,000 pounds ($1,215) per day and 5,000 pounds ($6,088) per 30-day period to cryptocurrency exchanges. NatWest said the move is part of an effort to safeguard customers from “losing life changing sums of money” to crypto criminals.
The bank said it is increasing customer protection after consumers across the UK lost roughly 329 million pounds ($400.6 million) in crypto crime last year.
“We have seen an increase in the number of scams using cryptocurrency exchanges and we are acting to protect our customers,” Stuart Skinner, head of fraud protection at NatWest, said.
Worth mentioning is that the UK-based bank had previously implemented a similar daily cap on customer transfer to crypto exchanges, including Binance, in 2021. At the time, NatWest cited investment scams and fraud concerns as its reasons.
Limiting Customers’ Crypto Activities
With the latest development, NatWest has now joined its UK-based rivals Nationwide Building Society and HSBC to tighten limits on customers’ access to crypto.
Earlier this month, Nationwide applied a daily limit of 5,000 pounds ($6,088) on debit-card purchases of crypto assets, while its credit cards stopped facilitating crypto purchases. At the same time, HSBC prohibited customers from using their credit cards to buy crypto. The two entities said the move was in compliance with warnings issued by the Financial Conduct Authority over the risks associated with the asset class.
The recent market turmoil and the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX have further intensified regulators’ attention on the crypto sector as they look to protect investors against risks associated with the industry. Several crypto-friendly banks are currently facing increasing scrutiny from U.S. regulators.
