ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the UK bank-customer relationship and the main obligations that arise between banks and their clients. Particular attention is devoted to the identification of the notion of a bank customer at common law and to the common law duties of care and confidentiality. Although banks are not in general held to be in a fiduciary relationship with their customers, such relationship may arise in particular contexts, such as the giving of special financial or investment advice. The first part of the chapter examines the scope of banks’ fiduciary obligations to customers, and legal techniques used to avoid them as well as the duty of care applicable when giving advice. The second part explores the duty of confidentiality owed by banks to customers. The discussion demonstrates how traditional common law principles have been developed in recent years, in the light of changing public expectations, to ensure more robust protection for bank customers.
