Monzo Reprimanded Over Transaction History Breaches

Digital bank Monzo has received a warning from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) over its failure to provide over 143,000 former account holders with their banking transaction histories.

It follows the Retail Banking Market Investigation Order 2017, where it was ruled that all banks and building societies are required to provide customers with a full history of their current account activity — all incoming and outgoing payments — no later than 40 days after the account has been closed. At least 95% of customers should receive them faster — within 10 working days.

Scale Of The Issue

The purpose of the order is to ensure that customers who want to switch banks aren’t then penalised when applying for mortgages or other credit — previously, banks could refuse or delete the transaction histories of customers.

In total, the CMA has found that almost 150,000 customers have been affected by these issues, with the Bank of Ireland, Virgin Money and NatWest Group also failing to provide customers with the details within the necessary timings. In some cases, the delays have been over a year, although some are just delays of a few weeks.

Monzo is by far the biggest offender — of the almost 150,000 cases they are responsible for over 143,000. The CMA has written to all four banks involved, warning them that repeated offences could result in further action, including legally-binding directions that could include compliance audits or mandated training.

Contacting Customers

A spokesman for Monzo has made it clear that they have apologised to customers and are taking action to prevent similar failings in future.

Monzo has also started to email affected past customers, offering them the opportunity to receive their transaction histories. The initial email, sent to customers last week, reads “When your Monzo account closed, we should have given you your transaction history, but we didn't. That's our mistake, and we're sorry — we've fixed it so it won't happen for any customers in the future.”

The bank closed the original email by stating that it would email customers again within 7 days if they had not heard from the customer, to give them the “best chance” of getting their transaction history.

The follow-up email states that customers won’t be contacted again about the issue, and so they need to act now if they are interested in retrieving their banking history.

The Competition and Markets Authority has vowed to put pressure on the banks and to monitor their performance in future, to prevent a repeat of this incident.

Nearly 150,000 people were affected by these banks’ breaches, with the majority being former Monzo customers. This may have made things harder for people trying to borrow money or apply for a mortgage.

The CMA’s work in the sector is making it easier for people to get a better deal from their bank. Banks must comply with all the rules — that includes providing a full transaction history promptly.

Adam Land, CMA Senior Director of Remedies Business and Financial Analysis