Savers must be alerted to better deals, FCA and data watchdog warn banks

With the news that the Financial Conduct Authority is to write to UK banks telling that they should communicate better savings rates to customers and still meet data protection rules, GDPR expert Nick Phillips recently spoke to the Financial Times to explain how lenders might achieve this.

UK Banks have recently faced criticism for not passing on benefits of increased interest rates communicate better savings rates to customers and still meet data protection rules under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The UK’s financial regulator and information watchdog will warn banks that they cannot hide behind data protection rules if they fail to alert savers to better deals.

Under pressure to pass on the benefits of higher rates, banks told the Financial Conduct Authority at a meeting earlier this month that they could not tell certain savers about deals if they had opted out of marketing communications, according to people familiar with the situation.

But on Tuesday the FCA and the Information Commissioner’s Office are planning to send a letter to UK Finance, the banking lobby group, disputing that position, according to two people familiar with the situation.

The letter is expected to tell lenders that they can communicate better savings rates to customers and still meet data protection rules under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)…

Nick Phillips, intellectual property partner at law firm Edwin Coe, said: “Companies are not allowed to send marketing messages without an individual’s consent. But they are allowed to send system messages — for example alerting customers they have changed their terms and conditions . . . provided the messages are neutral in tone. It’s quite a difficult area of the law, though — and is one which people often get wrong.”…

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