Natwest gets slap on the wrist after flouting customer service rules
Natwest and the Co-Operative Bank have been given a slap on the wrist by the competition watchdog today after potentially misleading customers over the quality of service they were receiving.
In letters to the two banks today, the Competition and Markets Authority said Natwest and Co-Op Bank had both breached part three of the Retail Banking Order, which requires lenders to fully inform customers how their services and current accounts stack up against rivals.
Regulators ushered in the rules in 2017 in a bid to boost competition and standards in banking, with lenders required to prominently display posters in branch and publish notes on their websites.
However, both Natwest and Co-Op Bank have been found to have failed to properly do so, the CMA said.
“The failure to publish [service quality information] posters in branches may mean that customers who use those branches were not prompted to consider switching to a bank with a better service quality ranking,” the CMA said in its letter to Natwest.
“The failure to publish the correct rate on all its webpages may have led some SMEs to take out a loan which was more expensive than they were expecting.”
Co-Op Bank’s failure to publish up-to-date service quality information on its website meant “consumers may have made decisions on whether to continue to bank with the Cooperative Bank on the basis of out-of-date information”, the CMA said in its letter.
Both lenders had taken steps to remedy the issues and no formal action was required, the CMA added.
The reprimands came as the CMA released its ranking of best and worst retail lenders, with digital banks Monzo and Starling topping the list and the more traditional players like Virgin Money and HSBC languishing in the doldrums.
Natwest and Co-Op Bank were contacted for comment.