April 20 (Reuters) – The Australian securities regulator on Thursday asked financial institutions across the country to improve approaches towards scams after a new analysis revealed losses for major bank customers exceeded A$550 million ($369.05 million) in the previous fiscal year.

More than 31,700 customers have been impacted by the scams, the regulator said.

The overall approach to dealing with scams and governance of major banks were less mature than expected, in addition to gaps in identifying scam payments, according to the report from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

“Banks need to reconsider the ways they respond to and engage with scam victims to reduce further distress and help them better manage the situation,” ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said in a statement.

Australia’s Big Four Banks, on which the report was focussed on, are said to have invested significantly towards anti-scam efforts in the last several years, even though the rising number of scams show more has to be done.

National Australia Bank (NAB.AX), the country’s second-largest lender, told Reuters it was engaging with the ASIC in response to its report released on Thursday.

NAB’s Chris Sheehan, group investigations and fraud executive, in an opinion piece published on the bank’s website also said the bank saw a 38% rise in customers reporting scams last bank year, and expected a significant rise this year too.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AX), Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX) and ANZ Group Holdings (ANZ.AX) did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

($1 = 1.4903 Australian dollars)

Reporting by Archishma Iyer in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.