Rules on bank charges obscure

1.46.32pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 8th May 2006

Commenting on the report of the Banking Codes Standards Board's report criticising bank charges, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable MP, said: "It is not at all surprising that there are more complaints about bank charges, since charges, for overdrafts in particular, vary a great deal between banks.

"The rules surrounding charges are obscure and lacking transparency. Banks are finding it increasingly difficult to justify them because they are unrelated to their cost.

"The deeper problem is that the authorities are looking at this problem in a piece-meal manner - and we are still left with the unsatisfactory position originally identified six years ago in the Cruickshank report.

"Banks are fundamentally different from other companies and there needs to be a comprehensive approach to bank charging."