Britain’s 7th largest bank, Alliance & Leicester, is to be bought by Spanish bank Banco Santander, it has been announced. This is likely to mean an A&L a merger with Abbey, which Santander bought in 2004.
Research has shown that, despite recent reductions in the Bank of England interest rate, banks are increasing the rates customers pay on overdrafts.
The Royal Bank of Scotland has written letters to thousands of small businesses informing them that their previously free bank accounts will now be charged at a flat rate of £10 a month.
Icelandic bank Icesave has launched a new fixed rate savings account paying what is surely a market-leading 7.01% on deposits.
On 24th April the High Court ruled that the charges made by banks for going into the red or not having funds to pay a cheque or direct debit are bound by standard legal rules on the fairness of contracts. Read the rest of this entry »
The UK payments association APACS has announced a new banking payment system which will allow transfers between many bank accounts to be almost instantaneous.
High Street banks have reportedly repaid over £560 million to customers who feel they have been overcharged for unauthorised overdraft fees or unpaid item charges.
New industry figures from Apacs show that the use of cheques continued to decline in 2007, with the year showing the fastest fall in use since their peak in 1991. In all, 1.6 billion cheques were issued, representing a 9% drop over the previous year.
Lloyds TSB has announced a cut in the charges it levies on customers who go into the red without prior authorisation, and also a reduction in the amount it charges for bouncing a cheque. It is the first major bank to reduce its fees in light of the ongoing saga over possibly illegal and punitive charging levels, although Lloyds insists that the move is a response to customer feedback and not an attempt to stave off tighter regulation by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
A study into the half-year performance of Britain’s largest high street banks has estimated that a total of £200m of ‘unfair’ charges have been refunded to customers who’ve initiated legal action over possibly punitive or excessive charges.