Guidance

SME banking 2002 behavioural undertakings: Directions to Barclays

Directions issued by the CMA to Barclays, to ensure it complies with specific undertakings on banking services for SMEs.

• From: Competition and Markets Authority
• Published: 4 July 2019

Documents

Directions to Barclays

PDF, 153 KB, 11 pages

Barclays action plan

PDF, 202 KB, 1 page

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Details

In 2002, Barclays, among others, 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 the behavioural undertakings (undertakings). Following an investigation, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) concluded that Barclays had breached the undertakings. The CMA has issued Barclays with written directions designed to improve its compliance with the undertakings.

The CMA’s report on compliance with the 2002 behavioural undertakings is also available.

Press release: CMA directs Barclays to fix banned banking practices

Published 4 July 2019