Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LSE:LLOY) and HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE:HSBA) are among four banks to have been sent letters by the UK competition watchdog after failing to share correct data via the 'open banking' scheme and on their websites.
Lloyds failed to publish the location of hundreds of ATMs through open banking API data that is shared with financial apps, while HSBC published incorrect information about how many branches it operated and incorrect charges for its overdrafts and ATM machines.
Over 160 HSBC closed branches were listed as still being open and two open branches were not listed, while the lender also failed to keep some of its annual rates for business loans and overdrafts accurate and up to date on its website.
"Providers cannot charge customers more in un-arranged overdraft charges than the [monthly maximum charge] in any given month," the CMA said, with over 300 HSBC devices displaying the charge as £35 instead of the actual value of £20.
Lloyds's failure stemmed from a pilot exercise to move ATM data to a new internal management system, but the bank failed to put sufficient safeguards in place to ensure that the open banking data was correct during the pilot.
The CMA said providing the location of ATMs "is an important means of ensuring that customers can access the services they need" and it had previously emphasised that these be published through open banking APIs as part of initiatives designed to help consumers and SMEs choose who to bank with.
It said Lloyds and HSBC both self-reported the breaches and have taken steps to prevent a recurrence.
In both cases, the CMA said it does not consider it appropriate to take further formal enforcement action at present.
TSB, owned by Spain's Sabadell, and Allied Irish Bank were the other two banks that failed to comply with CMA banking rules, respectively failing to disclose maximum overdraft charges and failing to share correct annual rates for loans and overdrafts.