Barclays has been instructed to improve the way it treats SMEs after it was found several hundred firms were forced to open current accounts with the bank in order to access other services, such as loans.
This is despite them signing up to rules in 2002, which included a ban on such practices.
The Competition and Markets Authority said Barclays had not compiled with legal undertakings designed to make it easier for businesses to shop around and choose the best accounts for them.
The bank prevented SMEs who had business premium accounts from transferring money to or from non-Barclays accounts and telling holders of notice deposit accounts they had to open a current account.
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Email JaimeThis led to unnecessary costs to some companies which were made to hold accounts they didn’t need, and affected 816 firms between 2010 and last year.
Barclays are taking steps to fix the problem, including allowing affected customers to transfer funds to and from other banks. Firms that want to open notice deposit accounts now no longer have to hold a Barclays current account.
The bank will also pay over £2,000 to the affected business premium account holders for payments they should not have had to make.
Barclays said, “We have corrected a mistake we made which affected a small number of business customers. We’ve taken steps to ensure that this does not happen again.”
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