The Court held that banks do not owe this duty to customers deceived into instructing their banks to transfer money to fraudsters.

By Nell Perks and Callum Rodgers

On 12 July 2023, the UK Supreme Court handed down its highly anticipated judgment in Philipp v. Barclays Bank UK PLC [2023] UKSC 25, allowing the appeal brought by Barclays Bank UK PLC (Barclays).

The Court’s decision, which resolved longstanding questions about the nature of the Quincecare duty, clarified that the Quincecare duty only arises in cases in which there is fraud by an agent acting for the customer. As a result, it cannot apply in circumstances in which the relevant payment was authorised by the bank’s customer directly, so it has no application in APP fraud cases. The Court overturned the decision of the Court of Appeal, which had expressly held that that it is “at least possible in principle” that the Quincecare duty could apply to a “victim of APP fraud” on the basis that the Quincecare duty “does not depend on the fact that the bank is instructed by an agent of the customer of the bank”. [1]

In a leading case, the Court examined the extent of the duty of care that a bank owes to its customers when executing their orders.

By Andrea Monks and Nell Perks

On 30 October 2019, the UK Supreme Court dismissed Daiwa’s appeal in the case of Singularis Holdings Ltd (In Official Liquidation) v Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Limited [2019] UKSC 50. The decision marks the first successful claim for breach of the Quincecare duty that banks owe to their customers. Latham & Watkins expects to see further examination of the duty as instances of fraud continue to rise and the courts consider the degree of responsibility that banks should bear for stopping financial crime.

The Quincecare duty, which Justice Steyn set out in 1992, refers to an implied term of the contract between a bank and its customer that the bank will use reasonable skill and care in and about executing the customer’s orders. A bank will be in breach of this duty if it executes an order that it knows to be dishonestly given, shuts its eyes to the obvious fact of the dishonesty, or acts recklessly in failing to make reasonable enquiries.