Not upheld: international payment handling, currency conversion, service failures complaint against Metro Bank PLC

Decision detail

Summary

S, a limited company, complained that Metro Bank PLC should refund losses resulting from currency conversion of an incoming international payment from India. The payment was initially sent in USD but was converted to GBP by the sending bank's intermediary before reaching Metro Bank, then converted back to USD by Metro Bank's intermediary to credit S's USD account, resulting in a shortfall. Metro Bank declined to refund the shortfall but awarded £50 compensation for service failures. The ombudsman found Metro Bank not responsible for the conversion shortfall as it resulted from the sending bank's intermediary's actions, not Metro Bank's error, and upheld the £50 compensation as reasonable for the service failures identified.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Metro Bank was not responsible for the currency conversion shortfall because the initial conversion from USD to GBP was performed by the sending bank's intermediary (J) before the payment reached Metro Bank or its own intermediary (B). The conversion back to USD by Metro Bank's intermediary was reasonable and necessary to credit the funds to S's USD account. While Metro Bank made service errors (failing to complete a callback and initially directing Mr P to contact intermediaries rather than investigating itself), these errors did not cause the financial loss complained of. The £50 compensation already awarded adequately addressed the inconvenience caused by these service failures.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website