HSBC, Santander to Refund Customers Over Breaches -CMA

   By Adria Calatayud

HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBA.LN) and Banco Santander SA (SAN.MC) have agreed to refund customers after they both broke a legal order, the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority said Friday.

The refunds follow action by the CMA which found that HSBC twice broke, and Santander six times, an order that requires lenders to send text alerts before charging customers for going into an unarranged overdraft, the regulator said.

HSBC has agreed to refund 8 million pounds ($10.3 million) to 115,000 customers, while Santander has yet to confirm the number of customers affected and how much it will refund, the CMA said.

The breaches first occurred in February 2018 and the refunds paid by the banks cover all fees incurred by customers from going into unarranged overdrafts where they hadn't been warned beforehand by the required text alerts, the regulator said. The CMA said it is also directing HSBC and Santander to undertake an independent check of their compliance with the regulation between February 2018 and December 2019.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 29, 2019 02:29 ET (07:29 GMT)

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