Following the initiative of the Bank of Lithuania, draft amendments and supplements to the Payment and Consumer Credit Acts have been prepared to prevent fraud

Following the Bank of Lithuania’s initiative, draft amendments and supplements to the Payment Act and the Consumer Credit Act have been prepared and published, aiming to strengthen fraud prevention in the financial sector. The adoption of the Acts is planned for the spring 2026 session, and some of the new obligations for market participants could come into effect already from November 1, 2026. 

In the field of payments, it is proposed to establish additional obligations for payment service providers: 

• Under the draft, they would have to provide clients with the ability to set spending limits for each payment service and payment instrument. 
• When changing limits remotely, strong customer authentication (SCA) and a 4-hour delay period would be mandatory, and users would have to be informed about limit changes. 
• There is also a proposed obligation to monitor payment transactions in real time and, if a fraud risk is identified, to suspend or refuse to execute the transaction. In the case of instant payments, the decision would have to be made within 10 seconds. 
• The draft also provides that a payment transaction would not be considered authorized if it was initiated or modified by a third party without the user’s consent, even if stolen security data were used. 
• Additionally, payment service providers would have to exchange information about possible fraud and actively inform users about fraud risks and the safe use of identification tools. 
• The main amendments to the Act clarify the provisions of Article 11 on the conditions for providing payment services, additionally establish information provision requirements in Article 13, adjust Article 29 regarding transaction execution and notification, clarify Articles 33, 35, 37, and 38 regarding authorization, execution, and liability, and in Article 43 more clearly regulate liability for unauthorized transactions. 
• The Act is supplemented with new articles (35¹, 36¹, 38¹, 46¹, 59¹, and 59²) establishing additional mechanisms for payment security, fraud prevention, and information exchange between payment service providers and competent authorities. 
• The aim is to unify risk management standards for all market participants and ensure faster response to potential financial threats, thereby strengthening the protection of payment service users. 

In the field of consumer credit, it is proposed to expand the obligations of creditors in fraud prevention: 

• If the creditor has reasonable objective grounds to suspect potential fraud, they would be obliged to inform the consumer about such suspicion before concluding a consumer credit agreement. 

• The creditor could request the consumer to provide additional information about the circumstances of concluding the consumer credit agreement, and the consumer would be obliged to cooperate, disclose the circumstances known to them, and provide the requested data. 

• The decision on concluding a consumer credit agreement should be made taking into account all available information, including explanations or additional data provided by the consumer. 

• If, after concluding the agreement, the creditor identifies reasonable objective grounds to suspect fraud, they would be obliged to suspend the disbursement of credit funds and inform the consumer about it. 

• If it is later determined that the suspicions are unfounded, the disbursement of credit funds could be resumed; however, if the suspicions persist, the creditor would have the right not to disburse the credit funds and terminate the agreement, informing the consumer in a durable medium. 

• Creditors would also have to establish and continuously update internal fraud prevention procedures and measures, allowing them to assess potential risks before concluding the agreement. 

• These procedures should include mechanisms to ensure the consumer’s genuine intent to conclude the consumer credit agreement. 

• In case of a dispute, the creditor would be obliged to prove that the consumer was properly informed about the potential fraud risk, and decisions on concluding the agreement or disbursing credit funds were made based on all available data. 
• It would also be required to ensure the awareness of employees and consumer credit intermediaries about fraud prevention procedures. 

• Furthermore, creditors would have to publicly publish recommendations for consumers on how to recognize fraud in the consumer credit field and what actions to take to protect themselves from it. 

TEGOS comment: The proposed amendments signal a clear regulatory shift – payment service providers and consumer credit creditors are given broader obligations to monitor transaction security, assess possible fraud indicators, and, if necessary, suspend payment transactions or credit disbursements. The draft Acts also establish additional information exchange and prevention mechanisms, which will allow faster responses to potential financial threats already at the transaction execution stage. This regulatory model is likely to contribute to a lower volume of fraud operations, clearer allocation of responsibilities, and more consistent risk management across the financial market. 

• More information: here.