The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has issued a warning to Monzo after it breached a rule requiring it to send banking transaction histories to over 143,000 former account holders.

As a result of the Retail Banking Market Investigation Order 2017, banks and building societies are required to send customers a history of their current account banking activity, called a transaction history, within 40 days of a customer or small business closing their current account. Transaction histories must be sent to at least 95% of such customers within 10 working days.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) introduced this measure to make switching banks easier and to address concerns that customers who switched would lose access to their banking history – a key requirement for lenders offering credit.

Bank of Ireland, NatWest Group, and Virgin Money also breached the CMA’s Order in a similar way. In total, nearly 150,000 customers were not provided with their transaction history in the necessary timescale. Some transaction histories were provided a few weeks late, while others have been delayed by more than a year.

The CMA has written to each of the 4 banks, which are sending all outstanding information to the affected customers. If the banks breach the order again, the CMA can take further action by issuing legally binding ‘Directions’. These could include banks having to introduce specific training or carrying out annual compliance audits to prevent this from happening in the future.

Given the action that has been taken and is being taken by Monzo, the CMA does not consider it appropriate to take further formal enforcement action in relation to this breach at present. The CMA will monitor the resolution of this breach and Monzo’s future compliance closely.