BBC Two’s Newsnight programme this week examined the rules which empower banks to filter customer complaints, introduced in April.

Leaving police “out of the loop” on selected fraud cases is a “shocking” practice, claimed Ross Anderson, professor of security engineering at Cambridge University, speaking on BBC One’s ‘Breakfast’ show.

But UK payments association Apacs defended the decision to channel police reporting in credit card fraud cases through banks.

The banking industry’s approach is “pragmatic”, Apacs chief executive Sandra Quinn told BBC One’s Breakfast programme, given that police time is limited.

“Historically police forces have not been able to deal with every single incident,” she explained, “and they are not going to be in the future either”.

When she spoke on the Newsnight programme which sparked the controversy, Ms Quinn pointed out: “As an industry we have a vested interest in making sure card fraud is investigated and the fraudsters prosecuted.”

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