Corporate report

SME banking 2002 behavioural undertakings: report on banks� compliance audit 2016

2016 audit report into whether 8 leading UK banks are complying with undertakings they gave not to bundle loans and accounts.

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In 2002, a number of banks agreed that they would no longer (except for in specific circumstances) make a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) customer open or maintain a business current account in order to get a business loan. This practice is commonly known as ‘bundling� and was prevented by behavioural undertakings.

In 2014, 8 banks agreed to submit annual audit reports of their systems and procedures to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp CMA reviews these and reports on its findings each year in the reports on compliance above.

»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp following 8 banks are currently subject to the bundling prohibition:

  • AIB Group (UK) plc
  • Bank of Ireland
  • Barclays Bank plc
  • Clydesdale Bank plc
  • HSBC UK Bank plc and HSBC Bank plc (together, HSBC)
  • Lloyds Banking Group
  • Danske Bank
  • NatWest Group plc (formerly the Royal Bank of Scotland Group which includes Ulster Bank Limited in Northern Ireland).

Updates to this page

Published 5 July 2017

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