Partially upheld: failure to escalate vulnerability concerns to appropriate specialist team; failure to intervene in gambling transactions complaint against Monzo Bank Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Mr H complained that Monzo Bank Ltd failed to address excessive gambling transactions on his account from March 2024 onwards. Mr H applied a gambling block himself in May 2024, but only raised the issue with Monzo in January 2025, when he was contacted by the vulnerabilities team rather than a gambling specialist team. The ombudsman found that while Monzo's failure to escalate to the gambling team warranted £100 compensation, the firm was not required to have intervened during the March-May 2024 period as it had no prior knowledge of vulnerability and Mr H maintained a healthy balance. The complaint was partially upheld with a remedy of £100 compensation.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Monzo failed to escalate Mr H's concerns to the appropriate gambling specialist team in January 2025 (which warranted compensation), the firm was not required to have intervened during the March-May 2024 gambling period. This is because Monzo had no prior knowledge of vulnerability, Mr H maintained a healthy balance, and determining gambling depletion would have required an onerous level of scrutiny. Additionally, Mr H did not respond to the vulnerabilities team contact, suggesting he may not have responded to earlier contact either.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website