Rome (AFP) – Italy’s competition watchdog said Thursday it had opened an investigation into UK online bank Revolut over “misleading” messages to customers about its investment services. The Competition and Market Authority (ACGM) also alleged that the bank employed “aggressive ways” of handling banking services.
The watchdog said in a statement that while Revolut promoted its no-commissions policy, it failed to clarify that there were additional costs and limitations of such investments. The watchdog and Italy’s financial police conducted an inspection of Revolut’s Italian branch in Milan on Tuesday, it said.
Revolut, which has 3.4 million clients in Italy, said it would cooperate with the investigation. “Revolut remains fully committed to upholding the highest standards of compliance and customer protection in Italy and across the globe,” it said in a statement. The bank, which launched in 2015 and operates in the EU under a Lithuanian licence, aims to compete with European banking giants.
Its rapid growth has drawn criticism in recent years, however, over its ability to comply with financial regulations. Italy’s watchdog also reproached the bank for its disclosures on cryptocurrencies, failing to make clear that clients would not be able to modify their stop-loss and take-profit settings in order to manage their risk.
It also said Revolut “omitted or provided in an unclear manner” their terms and conditions for suspending or blocking accounts. Alleging “aggressive ways of suspending or blocking accounts,” it said customers were not given adequate notice or assistance, resulting in long periods in which customers could not access their funds. In April, Revolut was fined 3.5 million euros by Lithuania for failures in its anti-money laundering control policies.
© 2024 AFP
