The watchdog criticises HSBC “once again” for customer errors

The competition watchdog has accused HSBC of “yet again” breaching rules on keeping customers informed.

It was one of four banks that “failed to provide accurate information about its products and services,” the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said.

The others were Lloyds, TSB and Allied Irish Bank (AIB).

HSBC’s failings included failing to update branch information, and 167 closed sites were listed as still open.

It also failed to update some rates for business loans and told some customers the incorrect maximum they would be charged for an unanimously agreed upon overdraft on personal checking accounts.

TSB failed to disclose maximum overdraft charges. AIB failed to correctly publish some loan rates and Lloyds failed to correctly publish the locations of 363 ATMs.

The lenders breached rules set in 2017 after the CMA found competition issues in retail banking. Lloyds, TSB and AIB have all made changes to prevent further breaches, the watchdog said.

It added that HSBC was found to have breached the rules “more extensively” and issued the bank with “detailed instructions… to ensure full compliance in the future.”

The regulator also said HSBC had committed “significant prior breaches”.

Dan Turnbull of the CMA said: “It is disappointing that seven years later we are having to put in place formal enforcement measures to ensure better compliance from a bank like HSBC which is, once again, in breach.”

HSBC apologised and said it had informed the CMA, adding: “We have taken steps to prevent these issues from happening again.”