Barclays criticised over wrong information to price comparison sites

The competition authority said that poor information can lead to consumers taking ‘wrong decisions’

The mistakes were made between 2018 and 2021 (Yui Mok/PA) (PA Archive)

Barclays has been criticised by the competition authority for a series of mistakes it made when supplying information to price comparison websites.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that it had found 13 breaches by the bank of a 2017 order that forces it and others to share information.

Failing to hand out the right data could lead customers to take the wrong decision, the CMA said. However, Barclays pointed out that the incorrect information was not published by price comparison websites.

“Despite this, the CMA remains concerned with the nature and extent of these breaches,” the authority said.

“The CMA considers that consumers should be able to rely on the accuracy of information provided by banks irrespective of how that information is provided and that banks should be capable of providing accurate, comprehensive and up to date information through all channels and to all consumers, without exception.”

It laid out a long list of failures that happened between 2018 and 2021. They included over-stating the number of ATMs available to customers, under-reporting overdraft fees, and over-reporting international payment fees.

The CMA added: “Failure to make continuously available accurate, comprehensive and up to date information on products and services can mean that consumers take wrong decisions and they may therefore choose financial products or services which are not best suited to their needs.”

Barclays has promised to check data manually every month to make sure it is right. It will also train staff on how to live up to the rules and ensure that other systems are in place to ensure the mistakes do not happen again.

The authority said: “Due to the comprehensive nature of the voluntary actions taken by Barclays, the CMA does not consider it necessary to take further formal enforcement action at this time.

“The CMA notes the resolution of these 13 breaches, in particular the specific actions and their timing. We reserve the right to take formal enforcement action if there is further non-compliance.”

Barclays said: “We take our responsibilities under the CMA order very seriously, and have voluntarily taken steps to fix the breaches relating to the Open API remedy, while introducing new processes to ensure we remain compliant.”