TSB fined £10.9m by FCA over customer arrears failures

The bank has been fined for inadequate processes for the time period between June 2014 and March 2020, during which the regulator said the bank created a 'real risk that repayment plans were not realistic'. The FCA also said TSB 'lacked suitable systems and controls to secure fair outcomes'.

During this period of time, the regulator say staff were potentially encouraged by incentive schemes to prioritise the number of plans made over taking enough time to assess individual customer circumstances, thus risking agreeing unaffordable payment arrangements or inappropriate fees.

TSB worked 'closely' with the independent reviewer of the investigation and the FCA and has paid £99.9m in redress to the 232,849 mortgage, overdraft, credit card and loan customers affected.

Therese Chambers, Joint Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight, commented:

'If you get into difficulty, you hope for – and we expect – fair treatment so a stressful situation isn’t made worse. TSB’s woeful systems and controls exposed its customers to risk of harm and meant it missed opportunity after opportunity to do the right thing. While it did take action, it took us instigating a review before it acted effectively to address all the issues.'