Britain’s TSB bank has been fined £10.9m ($14.25m) for failing to ensure customers in arrears were treated fairly, the markets watchdog said on Thursday.
The bank, which has paid £99.9m in redress to 232,849 mortgage, overdraft, credit card and loan customers affected, also lacked suitable systems and controls to secure fair outcomes, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said.
The regulator ordered an independent review in 2020 into how the bank treated customers who fell into arrears, finding it risked agreeing unaffordable payment arrangements or charging inappropriate fees.
“TSB’s woeful systems and controls exposed its customers to risk of harm and meant it missed opportunity after opportunity to do the right thing,” said the FCA’s joint head of enforcement and market oversight, Therese Chambers.
“While it did take action, it took us instigating a review before it acted effectively to address all the issues.”
The bank has spent £105m pounds on a “comprehensive programme” to resolve the problems, the FCA said.
A spokesperson for TSB described the issues as “historic” and said the bank had contacted all affected customers to apologise and reimburse them.
“We fixed the underlying issues some time ago and have considerably enhanced our support for customers experiencing financial difficulty,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
