The Commission ordered National Bank of Malawi to pay a fine of MK500,000.00 for engaging in unconscionable conduct in the trade of goods and services. This followed an investigation conducted by the Commission which established that National Bank of Malawi speciously and deceptively charged debit interest to customer accounts and failed to provide timely remedy despite repeated pleas from the affected consumers. This was an infringement of section 43 of the Competition and Fair Trading Act.
Further, the Commission issued the following orders against National Bank:
- Order to reverse the interest debits and pay accrued interests on the sums illegally held by the bank in favour of the Complainants – Pitronic Limited and James Lindani. 2. Order for the Bank to issue an official apology to the Complainants.
7 - Order for the Bank to provide details of other customers who suffered similar charges due to the malfunctioning of the Core Banking System; and provide proof that the erroneous charges have been reversed. 4. Order that the Bank should timely rectify and remedy its core banking system to guarantee consumer protection. 5. Order that the Bank should undertake a review of its complaints handling processes and systems to guarantee adequate consumer protection and avoid a recurrence.