Yahoo Finance Competition watchdog tipped off over fees at open banking body a year before inquiry
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) was tipped off about “excessively high” day rates at an organisation it set up to promote open banking a full year before it opened an investigation.
A whistleblower complained to the regulator in 2019, alleging that contractors had been hired at the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) at rates as high as £1,100 per day.
However, as The Daily Telegraph reported last week, the CMA only hired law firm Mishcon de Reya to open a full investigation after a separate whistleblower complaint was made earlier this year on the same issue.
The CMA passed on the 2019 allegations to OBIE, which conducted its own investigation into the complaint.
It concluded there had been no wrongdoing, but also found that there was “room for improvement” in its outsourcing processes.
OBIE formalised its outsourcing guidelines following the allegation, which required it to conduct due diligence before hiring businesses or individuals as contractors.
OBIE was formed by the CMA in 2016 in an attempt to force the country’s largest banks to open up access to customer information so that rivals and smaller start-ups can use their data for new services.
More than two million customers and small businesses are using services built on open banking technology, which offers a secure way for customers to take control of their financial data and share it with organisations other than their banks.
The CMA confirmed earlier this month that it had hired a law firm to investigate what it called “extremely serious” allegations made in a 2020 whistleblower complaint.
OBIE has said that it is fully cooperating with the investigation and said earlier this month that it is “committed to lending our full support” to the probe. Spokesmen for the CMA and OBIE declined to comment.
