Barclays, HSBC and others have joined the new harms initiative launched by the Gambling Commission.

UK.- The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, the charity founded and chaired by Martin Lewis, has announced that a raft of major UK financial services firms will join its new Gambling Harms Action Lab. Barclays, first direct, HSBC UK, Monzo, Starling, Virgin Money and Nationwide have committed to the innovation programme, which aims to develop and implement new tools to address gambling-related harm.

The Gambling Harms Action Lab is funded via a regulatory settlement approved by the Gambling Commission. Over the next 18 months, the institutions involved will explore and address common challenges to improving support for people experiencing gambling harm.

The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute says the need for greater action to tackle gambling harm is underlined by the findings of the Gambling Commission’s Gambling Survey for Great Britain, which found that 2.5 per cent of those surveyed were experiencing problem gambling. The survey found that almost six in ten of those surveyed who were experiencing problem gambling had not accessed any form of support services in the previous 12 months.

It believes that banks and other financial firms can play an important role in addressing these issues, as they have visibility of when someone is experiencing harm. That’s also the view the Gambling Commission put forward when it launched the initiative in November.

Tim Miller spoke at the launch of the initiative in November. Source: Gambling Commission

Firms that have joined the Gambling Harms Action Lab programme have agreed to collaborate to explore new approaches and tools to improve support for customers experiencing gambling harms, under the guidance of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute. They will meet for the first time in late February 2025.

The idea is to employ an innovative new approach through which firms will hold each other to account in a supportive environment and lean on each other’s collective expertise to uncover solutions through greater collaboration. This will include a focus on how improving support and outcomes for customers experiencing gambling harms can help banks meet their requirements under the Financial Conduct Authority’s Consumer Duty, which came into effect in 2023.

This work will be directly informed by Money and Mental Health’s Research Community of people with personal experience of mental health problems and gambling harms, who will help to shape solutions and the development of new and improved tools.

Nikki Bond, head of the Gambling Harms Action Lab, said: “Too many people in Britain are still experiencing gambling harm. Gambling harms can impact all aspects of a person’s life – from people’s relationships to their finances and mental health.

“It’s vital that we see cross-sector action to find solutions to these problems. So we’re absolutely delighted by the commitment these seven leading financial services firms have demonstrated to better support customers by coming on board to join our Gambling Harms Action Lab programme.

“This will provide a space to work together and support each other in overcoming these shared challenges. We will work with firms to ensure they build on their existing knowledge base and develop improved solutions that work for their customers experiencing gambling harms. Working together, we’ll achieve better protections and a new standard for what good looks like in financial services and gambling harms.”

Tim Miller, executive director at the Gambling Commission, said: “At the Gambling Commission we believe that greater sector collaboration is a key part of creating effective solutions that reduce gambling related harm. Financial services firms are not the cause of gambling harms, but they have a unique role to play as part of the solution. We are not alone in that thinking – the commitment from current account providers to the Gambling Harms Action Lab is testament to that. We would like to say thank you to firms for agreeing to support this important programme of work.”