FIN.

CMA varies Santander directions

CMA has varied the Directions to Santander in respect of its Open Banking Release. It had previously varied the directions in January 2019 and considers Santander’s continued failure to comply with the implementation plan to be a serious matter. Santander had explained, in June 2019, that technical issues meant it was not in the best interests of customers to press ahead with the migration, and as a result it would not meet its end of June deadline, but would be able to deliver if given a 2 month extension. However, it experienced further delays, leading it to revise that timetable to an end-November delivery. It completed a stage of its phased migration, but then notified CMA that it needed to stabilise its new platform, meaning that it would need until the end of March 2020 to deliver open banking for around 40,000 business current accounts.

Although the CMA is far from pleased, it has agreed to vary the order to require Santander to provide a project plan by 1 April and thereafter to report every 2 weeks.

Emma Radmore