The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has once again warned HSBC to stop disseminating incorrect information via its open data APIs.
The bank misrepresented fees, charges, and rates, as well as eligibility requirements, account features, and loan benefits, more than 50 times.
This was against an order that says the big banks in the UK must make sure that accurate, complete, and up-to-date read-only product and reference information is always available through Open Banking APIs.
From 2017 to 2022, this was the most extended breach.
The CMA says that such failures “may result in consumers making decisions that they would not have taken if they had access to the correct information.”
The watchdog also says that HSBC’s mistakes are “especially disappointing” because they have happened before.
HSBC told the government about the problems and has taken steps to fix them and stop them from happening again, such as making it easier to check information before it is shared through Open Banking.
So, the CMA will only take formal enforcement actions. Instead, it will “monitor HBC’s future compliance closely.”
