UK’s Big Banks Face Scrutiny From CMA

The Competition and Markets Authority has launched a full-blown investigation into Britain’s big banks services for personal accounts and small business banking. The probe, first proposed in July, has now been confirmed by the CMA.

Scrutiny over big banks’ business models

Britain’s four big banks–Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) (LON:BARC), Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (NYSE:RBS) (LON:RBS), HSBC Holdings plc (ADR) (NYSE:HSBC) (LON:HSBA) and Lloyds Banking Group PLC (ADR) (NYSE:LYG) (LON:LLOY)–dominate the market with a combined 77% share of personal current accounts and 85% of business accounts. However, fewer than 60% of the big four’s customers indicate that they are satisfied with their bank, although only 3%...