The Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander have been ordered to audit their PPI processes by the competition watchdog after they failed to send, or sent inaccurate, payment protection insurance reminders to customers.
The Competition and Markets Authority said they must appoint an “independent body” to carry out the audit.
Following an investigation into PPI by regulators in 2011, financial institutions now need to – among other things – send customers an annual reminder that clearly sets out how much they’ve paid for their PPI policy, the type of cover they have, and their right to cancel.
The CMA said RBS failed to provide reminders to almost 11,000 of its customers for up to six years. It has now written to those affected and has so far paid out more than £1.5m in refunds to customers.
Santander was caught in breach of the rules by sending out annual reminders containing incorrect information to more than 3,400 of its mortgage PPI customers from 2012-2017.
Both banks were previously warned by the CMA over their PPI practises in 2016.
Adam Land, the CMA’s senior director of remedies, business and financial analysis, said: “It is unacceptable that some banks aren’t providing PPI reminders – or are sending inaccurate ones – eight years after our order came into force.
“These are serious issues that, in the future, may result in fines if the government gives us the powers we’ve asked for.
“For now, we expect RBS to repay all affected customers quickly, and for both RBS and Santander to make sure that similar breaches do not happen again.”
Adam French, consumer rights expert at Which said: “This serves as yet another example of banks’ woeful approach to PPI.
“Failing to adhere to new measures that were introduced eight years ago does nothing to improve trust in an industry still dealing with a mis-selling scandal.”
The 2011 investigation revealed that an estimated 64 million PPI policies were sold in the UK – many in the 1990s and early 2000s.
The Financial Conduct Authority said compensation for PPI had now cost the financial services industry £36bn in total.
Customers have under a week left to make a claim against PPI to their provider, or they will miss out on their chance of a refund.
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