UK: Competition body expected to call for clearer bank fees

Britain’s competition watchdog is likely to call for bank charges to be made clearer when it publishes the findings of an investigation into the industry next week, banking sources say.

The Competition & Markets Authority has been investigating the market for personal current accounts and small business banking services since November last year and is due to publish its provisional recommendations next Thursday.

Lawmakers and regulators are keen to break the dominance of Britain’s ‘big 5’ banks — Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, HSBC and the British arm of Spain’s Santander — which control 85 percent of the personal current account market and provide more than 9 out of 10 loans to small businesses.

However, the watchdog is expected to resist calls for big banks such as Lloyds and RBS to be broken up and will instead focus on pricing and measures to encourage switching between lenders and make it easier for new banks to compete.

Executives at so-called “challenger” banks have this week called for changes in the way banks charge for services.

Full content: The Guardian

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