What happened with FX for international payments?

Changes were made to one of the systems we used to set foreign exchange rates that resulted in an incorrect rate being applied to some of your international payment transactions. We are refunding the difference, with interest.

Any Questions?

If you have any questions about your refund please contact us on 0800 200 307 or +44 161 931 9953 if you’re calling from abroad. Calls may be recorded and they may cost more if you call from overseas. Our opening hours are between 8.00am and 5.00pm, Monday to Friday excluding UK Bank Holidays.

If you have a hearing or speech impairment, you can contact us on Text Relay number 18001 0800 200 307 if you’re in the UK. If you’re not in the UK, please ask a hearing caller to dial the international number +44 151 494 2022 to reach a relay assistant who can connect you to the Text Relay system.

What steps have been taken to address this issue?

When we discovered this issue, we corrected the system. We then conducted a review of the data to identify all transactions that were affected so we could determine the correct refund and payment for each customer, which took some time.

What have you done to prevent this happening again?

We’ve corrected the system. We have additional checks and controls in place when we are making changes to our foreign exchange systems to prevent this happening again.

Which transactions were affected?

Certain international payment transactions, between March 2010 and May 2014, were affected. This includes, but is not limited to, payments by bank transfer, cheque or banker’s draft in currencies other than Sterling or funds you’ve received in foreign currency. Although not all international payment transactions on this system within this period were affected, they have all been reviewed. Transactions outside this period were NOT affected.

Were payments made via Credit or Debit card in the UK, abroad or online affected?

No, the card issuers apply the exchange rates for card payments so these payments were not affected.

Were cash withdrawals in a foreign currency using my Credit or Debit Card affected?

No, the card issuers apply the exchange rates for card transactions so these were not affected.

Other accounts are/ were held with you, am I due a similar refund on these too?

Where other accounts are due a refund, we will write to you separately.

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What happened with FX for international payments?