“Bank transfers represent a crucial on-ramp to add money to their account on our platform,” said Harries. “We are an FCA-registered crypto asset business, but are subject to the same blanket restrictions as the wider crypto asset sector.”
Lloyds Banking Group, which includes Halifax and Bank of Scotland, received the most complaints with 2,297, equivalent to 23% of the total. Barclays followed with 1,569, while NatWest Group received 1,278.
The figures require some qualification. SWC collected complaints from individuals choosing to use its online tool. The poll is not a representative survey of banking customers and is not adjusted for each bank’s share of U.K. checking accounts.
As such, higher figures do not necessarily reflect a higher rate of complaints.
Harries cited research by the U.K. Cryptoasset Business Council indicating that 40% of attempted transfers to FCA-registered crypto exchanges were blocked or delayed during the preceding 12 months.
“Most exchanges said customer friction had increased, and 70% said banking conditions were more hostile than a year earlier,” she said.
Disconnect
Perhaps the report’s most revealing finding, however, is the disconnect between banks’ publicly stated restrictions and what customers say they experience.
Lloyds has no published policy restricting crypto-related transfers, according to SWC’s review of bank websites as of Aug. 28.
