The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, the charity founded and chaired by Martin Lewis, has launched the Gambling Harms Action Lab — a three-year programme working with current account providers to develop and implement new tools to address gambling related harm.

Nationwide is the first financial services firm to sign up to the programme, signalling the organisation’s support for a collaborative approach to addressing gambling harms

The programme, funded from a regulatory settlement approved by the Gambling Commission, will bring together a group of five to seven financial services firms for an 18-month period, to explore and address common challenges to improving support for people experiencing gambling harm.

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.

The Duty requires firms to take a more consumer-centred approach to banking. Money and Mental Health’s programme will support firms to develop and test new tools and interventions aimed at improving outcomes, with direct input from the charity’s Research Community of people with experience of mental health problems and gambling harms.

Nationwide has become the first financial services firm to join the Gambling Harms Action Lab programme, signalling its commitment to progress and improve its offering for tackling gambling harms and work alongside other banks in the sector to tackle this ongoing challenge.

The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute has also released new research, looking at gambling harms in Britain and the role of current account providers to support the launch of the new programme of work.

Shining a light: Exploring the role of financial services in tackling gambling harms finds that there is a huge gap between the number of people in need of support for gambling harms and the number of people regularly accessing these services.

The report also found that under the Consumer Duty framework, there is more action that current account providers can and should be taking to address gambling harms. The Gambling Harms Action Lab will support innovation and the roll out of new interventions to ensure firms are meeting their obligations under this new framework.

Helen Undy, chief executive of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, said: “Gambling problems can cause catastrophic harms for those affected by them. Financial services are in a unique position to help, and it’s been great to see the progress made in recent years — particularly with the introductions of gambling blocking tools, which almost every current account provider now offers.

“But there is still a lot more to be done. We want to work with banks and other financial services to share ideas, overcome the challenges that might exist to improve support for customers, and to spread best practice across the sector. The Gambling Harms Action Lab is an important opportunity for firms to help drive that progress, no matter how advanced they are or otherwise in this work.

“We’re delighted that Nationwide have come on board with the programme, and we’re urging more firms to get involved so that we can continue the momentum in tackling gambling harms that we’ve seen in recent years.”

Kathryn Townsend, Head of Customer Vulnerability and Accessibility at Nationwide said: “Greater collaboration is essential if we are to truly tackle financial harm caused by excessive or problem gambling. It’s great to see the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute leading the charge on this with the launch of its Gambling Harms Action Lab. We are delighted to be the first financial services organisation to sign up to it and look forward to working alongside them and the wider industry to make a positive difference to people’s finances, relationships and mental health.”