Not upheld: Account administration errors complaint against HSBC UK Bank Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mr K complained that HSBC incorrectly transferred $55,000 in GBP instead of USD, causing him a loss of $1,590.22 when converting back. HSBC explained that the currency defaults to the receiving country's local currency and must be manually changed via a drop-down box, and that the exchange rate and currency were displayed before confirmation. The ombudsman found no processing error occurred, as Mr K had clear opportunity to review and confirm the transaction details including the currency before it was processed, and transaction records confirmed it was set to process in GBP. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Mr K had clear opportunity to review the transaction details including the currency and exchange rate on both the transaction screen and the review screen before confirming. The transaction records showed the $55,000 was set to process in GBP, indicating no processing error occurred. While the ombudsman acknowledged Mr K's loss, they found it unreasonable to expect HSBC to query the transaction when the customer had explicitly confirmed the details, particularly given the receiving bank was in the UK.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website