Are Credit-Card fraud refunds legally obligated, or good customer service?

Question

Supoposing my CC is stolen, I would expect that all purchase on that card after the theft, but before its cancellation would get refunded to me.

Obviously the nature of that refund is going to depend on my bank and CC contract, but in broad generality do these tend to be:

• legally obligated by the required banking standards of the UK?
• legally obligated by the contract, which the banks offer because that makes their contracts competitive?
• not legally obligated, but good customer service, because that makes their business competitve?

Answer 1

Under UK law the bank is responsible for all losses after you report the card lost or stolen. You are responsible for the first £50 before you report it but many banks waive this - in principle, it could be written into the contract that they do but AFAIK it’s done gratuitously at the bank’s discretion.

Answer 2

As a practical matter, the refund requirement is a term in the agreement between the credit card company and the customer, so additional sources for that requirement are pretty much irrelevant in day to day practice.

The contractual provision is frequently more generous than the legal requirement, explained by @DaleM which is something that credit card companies do, in part, out of a desire for good customer service and due to competition between credit card companies, and in part, because it makes claims easier for them to process administratively.