6 high-street banks broke CMA banking rules

Ninety-two Metro Bank customers received refunds after being overcharged for their overdraft.

The banks found to have broken the rules are Bank of Ireland, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Metro Bank and NatWest.

Under the order, banks and building societies are required to follow strict rules when it comes to informing customers of their services – from showing correct interest rates for current accounts, using accurate promotional materials online and within branches, to accurately displaying the right locations and opening times.

The breaches are:

• Barclays failing to keep information on interest rates up to date for overdrafts on two of its web pages
• Bank of Ireland listing incorrect details of branch locations through open banking (after some had permanently closed) as well as wrong information about some current account charges. Tablet users were also not provided with a link to information on Bank of Ireland’s service quality via the banking app
• HSBC failing to publish information about the maximum amount it can charge customers for overdrafts in all the places it should have done. It also showed out-of-date information relating to interest rates for their business account overdrafts on one of its webpages
• Lloyds Banking Group publishing incorrect service quality rankings relating to personal and business current accounts in leaflets and branch posters that gave potential customers a misleading impression of its performance; and failing to keep information in relation to interest rates up to date for one of its overdrafts on one of its web pages
• Metro Bank overcharging 92 customers for entering an unarranged overdraft
• NatWest not updating records following branch and ATM closures. They also listed incorrect interest rates for small-business loans when sharing information with independent price comparison tools

All six banks have confirmed they are making changes to their operations to prevent further breaches – ranging from destroying out-of-date promotional materials, to updating internal checklists and retraining staff. Metro Bank has also refunded the customers affected.