OFT drops action on bank charges

The Office of Fair Trading has decided to drop its action to curb bank charges after last month's ruling by the Supreme Court in favour of the banks.'The Supreme Court judgment was not the outcome we had hoped for and was disappointing for many bank customers. Having now considered in detail all the options available to us in light of the judgment, we have decided not to continue what would be a narrow investigation with limited prospects of success," John Fingleton, the OFT chief executive said.He added, however, that the OFT remains 'deeply concerned that the market for personal current accounts is not working well for consumers and does not give banks sufficient incentives to compete.'The OFT statement added that a number of other options are available to secure the changes it wants to see, ranging from voluntary action to legislative change.'The OFT will now discuss these issues intensively with banks, consumer groups and other organisations, with the aim of reporting on progress by the end of March 2010,' it said.The banks and the OFT agreed to stage a legal test case in July 2007, to decide if the OFT had the powers to rule on the fairness of bank charges. This followed rising complaints about the scale of charges for unauthorised overdrafts and a flood of legal claims against the banks.Going overdrawn without agreement, even for a second, can cost £35 and is said to generate £2.6bn of revenue a year for banks and subsidises free banking for other consumers.The High Court and Appeal Court sided with the OFT, but the Supreme Court ruled that the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations Act did not give the OFT the power to intervene.It ruled that overdraft charges were part of the price that customers agreed to pay for the package of services their banks provided, and as such were excluded from the scope of the regulations.