Barclays fined £26m over treatment of borrowers

Barclays Bank has been fined £26m over its treatment of borrowers who fell into arrears or experienced financial difficulties over a four-year period to 2018.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said Barclays Bank UK, Barclays Bank and Barclays’ Clydesdale Financial Services failed to follow its policy for contacting customers in arrears, and failed to have “appropriate conversations” with them.

This led to the bank offering “unaffordable, or unsustainable, forbearance solutions”, the FCA said on Tuesday.

“Consumers should feel reassured that their lender will work with them to help resolve any financial difficulties, whereas Barclays’s poor treatment of its customers risked making these difficulties worse,” said FCA executive director of enforcement and market oversight Mark Steward.

Barclays has since proactively paid out more than £273m in redress to at least 1.5m customer accounts. The FCA said that it took this into account when setting its fine. Barclays did not dispute the regulator's findings and agreed to settle the case for which it received a 30% discount on the fine.