Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that people without internet access can continue to receive paper bills and statements from their banks.

The Government takes the firm view that consumers must be able to easily access clear and transparent information about their accounts with banks and other financial service companies.

UK banks’ and building societies’ treatment of their customers is governed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in its Principles for Businesses. This includes a general requirement for firms to provide a prompt, efficient and fair service to all of their customers. The FCA’s Handbook requires firms to identify particularly vulnerable customers, and to deal with such customers appropriately. This includes older people, the disabled, and those who do not have access to the internet. If a customer does not have access to the internet, then the FCA would expect the customer’s bank to provide or make available paper statements to them instead.

Under changes to the Payment Services Regulations (PSRs) which came into force 13 January 2018 and govern the rules around payment accounts, banks are required to provide their customers with certain information, including a monthly statement (so long as there has been a transaction on the account). However, a customer’s terms and conditions must also include a condition that they can require their monthly statement to simply be ‘made available’ on a durable medium, for example through a secure website, rather than in the form of a physical statement.