I have always felt that fees on overdrawn accounts have a hint of illegality about them, at the very least if the banks are charging more than their incurred costs and profitting then this may be so, and in that case maybe they have been liable for refunds to customers going back years. Don’t ask me how but abolishing fees possibly prevents this.
Whatever the wind was carrying must have scared them.

Fee increases elswhere instead? there are plenty of hidden areas these can still be applied to, areas that will also pull people who are not defaulting on their accounts into the loop.

What a wonderful world, the economic crisis has meant even less banking competition and for some reason the banks want to be nice to us, but hey as I said, maybe I’m just being cynical and everything is allright after all.

For too long, politicians when interviewed on camera or when confronted over bank competition, mouth the party line…” if you are not happy with your bank then take your business down the street to another bank”….yeah right!!!

….Crikey!!!..do these defenders of truth and justice know how near impossible it is for SME’s to refinace when their bank relationship breaks down?

…or if the mums and dads who don’t like their credit card fees can quickly race down the street to the next bank and strike the deal of the century?

The banks are collusive in this regard and the doors will be shut in their face.

Fair and equal refinancing is a myth and politicians completely turn a blind eye to this fact coz they are well aware they have no intentions of bringing their masters the banks to heel.

This would put pressure on banks as they would have a viable competitor. The super funds would be subject to strict supervision and the ASIC and APRA regulation, and this would allow members of these funds to select a low risk (albeit relatively low return) option in their super fund. It also gives an alternative to funds ploughing into investment markets which can quickly be eroded as we have seen.