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BCOBS 7.2 What information is to be published and how is it to be measured?

Publication of information about personal current accounts and business current accounts

BCOBS 7.2.1R
  1. (1)

    1A firm to which this chapter applies must publish the information and statements specified in BCOBS 7.3 to 7.6:

    1. (a)

      separately, in relation to each trading name in respect of which the firm has 70,000 or more personal current accounts;

    2. (b)

      separately, in relation to each trading name in respect of which the firm has 15,000 or more business current accounts; and

    3. (c)

      subject to (2), separately for personal current accounts and business current accounts in relation to each of those trading names.

  2. (2)

    Where any of the information or statements which a rule in (3) requires a firm to publish is the same for both personal current accounts and business current accounts, the firm may publish a single set of information or a single statement for both personal current accounts and business current accounts.

  3. (3)

    The rules are:

    1. (a)

      BCOBS 7.3.1R (information needed to open a current account); and

    2. (b)

      BCOBS 7.3.3R (information about how an account may be opened).

  4. (4)

    But this rule does not oblige a firm to separate any data to which it provides a link under BCOBS 7.6.3R (complaints) between personal current accounts and business current accounts.

BCOBS 7.2.2G
  1. (1)

    1Where a firm is subject to this chapter in respect of more than one trading name, BCOBS 7.2.1R requires the firm to publish separate information for each of its trading names. And where a firm is subject to this chapter in respect of both personal current accounts and business current accounts, BCOBS 7.2.1R requires the firm to publish separate information for personal current accounts and business current accounts, for each trading name. (BCOBS 7.2.1R(3) provides for an exception, where standing information about personal current accounts and business current accounts is the same: in that case, the firm may publish a single set of information required by the rules listed in BCOBS 7.2.1R(3) but should indicate that it applies to both personal current accounts and business current accounts.)

  2. (2)

    But the following rules apply to personal current accounts and business current accounts separately: firms should not publish a single set of information covering both categories. These rules apply to the category as a whole and not to different types of product or account within those two categories. If a firm offers more than one type of current account within either or both of those two categories under the same trading name, the information in relation to all those types of account is to be aggregated within the relevant category. The rules are:

    1. (a)

      BCOBS 7.3.5R(1) (information about the speed of the account opening process);

    2. (b)

      BCOBS 7.4.1R(1) (information about the time taken to replace a lost, stolen or stopped debit card); and

    3. (c)

      BCOBS 7.6.1 (information about operational or security resilience).

  3. (3)

    BCOBS 7.6.3R requires a firm to provide links to complaints data. BCOBS 7.2.1R does not require the firm to separate that complaints data between personal current accounts and business current accounts; accordingly, the firm may provide the same links under BCOBS 7.6.3R in respect of both personal current accounts and business current accounts.

BCOBS 7.2.3R

1For the purposes of BCOBS 7.3 to 7.6:

  1. (1)

    a working account number is to be treated as generated for a banking customer only when the account number has been issued to the banking customer and the banking customer is able to make deposits into the account;

  2. (2)

    when a firm issues a debit card, personal identification number, item of information or any other thing to a banking customer, it is be treated as issued:

    1. (a)

      on the same day, if the banking customer receives it that day; else

    2. (b)

      on the day on which the banking customer would ordinarily be expected to receive it, in accordance with the delivery method by which the firm sent it;

  3. (3)

    a reference to an average number of days is a reference to the mean, expressed as a whole number of days;

  4. (4)

    “telephone banking” means a facility provided by the firm, other than mobile banking, which enables a banking customer to use voice telephony to ascertain the balance on an account and initiate a payment transaction on the account;

  5. (5)

    “mobile banking” means a software application provided by the firm which enables a banking customer, by use of an electronic device (including a smartphone, a tablet computer and a desktop computer) on which that application is installed, to ascertain the balance on an account and initiate a payment transaction on the account;

  6. (6)

    “internet banking” means a facility provided by the firm, other than mobile banking, which enables a banking customer to use the internet to ascertain the balance on an account and initiate a payment transaction on the account; and

  7. (7)

    internet banking is to be treated as enabled only when the firm has issued all information, and any devices specific to the firm (for example, a card reader), necessary for the banking customer to use internet banking.

BCOBS 7.2.4G
  1. (1)

    1BCOBS 7.2.3R(2) specifies that, when a firm issues a debit card, personal identification number, item of information or any other thing to a person, it is to be treated for the purposes of BCOBS 7.3 to 7.6 as having been issued to a banking customer only when the banking customer would ordinarily be expected to have received it. For example, if a debit card is sent to a customer by first class post, it will be treated under BCOBS 7.2.3R(2) as issued on the day after the day on which it was posted (or, if posted on a Saturday, as issued on the Monday); and if sent by second class post, as issued on the third day after the day on which it was posted (or, if posted on a Thursday, as issued on the Monday).

  2. (2)

    When counting the number of days taken:

    1. (a)

      firms should count each part of a day after the day from which the firm starts counting2 as a whole day; 2

    2. (aa)

      something done on the same day as the day from which the firm starts counting should be counted as done within zero day; and2

    3. (b)

      something done on the day following the day from which the firm starts counting should be counted as done within one day.

  3. (3)

    Where BCOBS 7.3 to 7.5 require a percentage or an average to be published, the percentage is to be expressed as an integer and the average is to be expressed as a whole number of days, with a fractional part of a figure which is 0.5 or over being rounded up and a fractional part of less than 0.5 being rounded down.