Monzo rapped by CMA over failure to provide transaction history data

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has ordered challenger Monzo to ensure customers leaving the bank receive their historic financial transaction data.

CMA issues directions to Monzo

The challenger informed the CMA it had failed to send transaction histories to more than 13,000 customers, despite reporting a similar breach last year.

Monzo has since contacted all affected customers to offer them a copy of their transaction history, the CMA says.

The CMA has issued legally binding directions requiring Monzo to “make sure this doesn’t happen again” and to review its procedures with an independent body.

The directions are enforceable in court if Monzo fails to comply with them, the CMA warns.

“It’s simply not good enough for a major bank like Monzo to repeatedly fail its customers by not following clear rules,” CMA senior director Adam Land says.

“Having a record of your financial transactions can act as important evidence needed to secure a loan or mortgage – so Monzo’s failure to provide these put an unnecessary obstacle in the way of thousands of customers.

“We’ll be watching to make sure proper procedure is followed.”

In response to the order, Monzo says it has introduced automated alerts to warn staff when the challenger’s systems have failed to issue transaction histories.

It is also monitoring past cases to ensure departing customers receive the relevant information and has developed new procedures to ensure the order is complied with.

In January, the CMA wrote to Monzo regarding a breach of the Retail Banking Market Investigation (RBMI) Order of 2017.