CMA issues Directions to Monzo Bank over transaction history failures

The Competition and Markets Authority issued Directions to Monzo Bank on 26 July 2022, requiring the bank to ensure ongoing compliance with Part 5 of the Retail Banking Market Investigation Order 2017¹.

Part 5 of the Order requires Personal Current Account and Business Current Account providers to give account holders a payment transaction history when their account closes, free of charge¹. Monzo failed to send those histories to a total of 13,566 account holders on account closure between 31 May 2021 and 11 March 2022¹. The CMA said Monzo has taken steps to end the breach¹.

The CMA had previously issued a public letter to Monzo about a similar breach, and said the Directions are designed to secure ongoing compliance with Part 5¹.

The Directions document runs to 11 pages and was published alongside the CMA's notice on 26 July 2022¹. The CMA has not reported any financial penalty in connection with the breach, and no figure for compensation to affected account holders has been reported¹.

Why it matters for households

A payment transaction history is the record of money in and out of an account. Under the retail banking market investigation remedies, banks and building societies must supply it free when a current account closes, so former customers keep a record for tax, benefits, budgeting or dispute purposes¹.

The failure affected 13,566 Monzo account holders whose accounts closed between 31 May 2021 and 11 March 2022¹. Anyone who closed an account in that window and did not receive a transaction history is within the group the CMA has identified. The CMA has not said how affected customers can obtain the missing histories, and it has not reported whether Monzo will send them retrospectively¹.

The Directions bind Monzo to compliance going forward rather than setting out redress for the past failures¹. The CMA has not reported the terms of the Directions beyond their purpose of ensuring ongoing compliance with Part 5¹.

For context on what a bank must do when it closes an account, see when your bank closes your account. The wider framework sits under regulation and policy.

What happens next

The Directions took effect on publication on 26 July 2022¹. The CMA has not reported a deadline by which Monzo must demonstrate compliance, nor any follow-up review date¹. No further enforcement step has been announced¹.