GamCare highlights new ways for banks to proactively screen transactional data to detect harmful gambling

The gambling support charity GamCare is today highlighting ways that banks in the UK can protect their customers from experiencing harm from gambling, following a recent workshop it ran with experts from across the financial services sector.

GamCare’s Gambling Related Financial Harm project was established in 2019 and is a cross-sector initiative to share knowledge, develop resources, and enable firms to support customers who are affected by gambling harms.

In the workshop – which brought over 70 representatives from financial services, the debt advice sector and gambling support services – GamCare heard new ways in which some banks are beginning to take a more proactive role in protecting their customers.

During the session, participants heard from a speaker from Santander on how the bank was engaging with customers who were potentially at-risk, including better tools to review levels of gambling spend, more frequent push notifications about the support tools available, and signposting to support services after customers had spent large sums of money gambling in a 24-hour period.

Off the back of the session, the charity has recommended steps that banks can take to support those impacted by gambling.

These include analysing transactional data from customers to identify potential issues with gambling, such as high gambling spending compared to income, late night gambling transactions, or increased gambling activity around payday.

The charity is also calling on more banks to proactively refer customers at risk into third party expert gambling support, including services like the National Gambling Helpline, when transactional data indicates that the customer’s gambling may be becoming harmful and unaffordable.

Banks can also signpost to self-exclusion schemes like GAMSTOP and blocking software such as Gamban to offer customers extra protection, as well as their own support and tools, for example bank gambling blocks which most UK current account providers now offer.

Raminta Diliso, Financial Harm Manager at GamCare, said: “Last year, 72% of people who contacted the National Gambling Helpline disclosed financial difficulties. Banks are particularly well placed to detect harmful and unaffordable gambling through bank statements and transactional data, and provide more targeted support to their customers. We hope that more financial services firms will take a proactive approach and put the right steps in place to support customers who are experiencing financial difficulties related to gambling.”

Graeme Cumming, Vulnerable Customers Strategy Manager at Santander, said: “At Santander, we believe that the bank, although not responsible, does have a part to play in gambling harm prevention. We have built a suite of interventions, including letters and text messages, to provide timely signposting to support for customers at risk of financial detriment due to their gambling.”

To see the read the full report from this GamCare event, download ‘Transaction Monitoring for Harmful Gambling and Proactive Interventions’.