Weekly Global News Wrap: JPMorgan probing employee misuse of PPP funds; Watchdog rebukes Lloyds' unfair treatment of small firms

And Danske Bank pays up to $16m for over-charging clients.

From Reuters

JPMorgan Chase is investigating employees who may have been involved in the misuse of federal funds meant to help small businesses and other customers hurt by COVID-19 shutdowns, an internal memo revealed.

The bank said it had found cases of customers “misusing Paycheck Protection Program loans, unemployment benefits and other government programs,” according to the memo, which was verified by a bank spokesperson.

The memo is one of the first signs that lenders and their staff may be swept up in federal efforts to police pandemic-related aid programs. In May, it was reported that the US Justice Department had subpoenaed Wall Street banks to seek records on PPP lending as it kicked off its enforcement efforts, but it was unclear if the banks themselves were targets at the time here.

From Reuters

Britain’s competition watchdog has stopped Lloyds Banking Group from forcing small business customers hit by the pandemic to open business current accounts to access emergency state-backed funding.

The Competition and Markets Authority said Lloyds had unfairly limited choice by requiring struggling companies to open a business account in order to get a so-called ‘Bounce Back’ loan.

The CMA said Lloyds had agreed to a number of actions and was informing affected customers of their options.

From Reuters

Danske Bank will pay out a total of up to $16m in compensation to 900 customers after over-charging them for an investment product.

The overcharging, which relates to an investment product called Danske Portefoljepleje between February 2017 and July 2018, was discovered after review of a similar case, the bank said.

The bank said the findings came after reviewing similar problems with its Flexinvest Fri product, for which the country’s financial watchdog had reported Danske to the police.