ANZ joins big four in account fee overhaul
The Age
Saturday September 19, 2009
ANZ took the amount of money to be handed back to consumers by the big four banks through a reduction in penalty charges to $750 million yesterday, after unveiling a comprehensive overhaul of its account fees.The changes €” involving cuts in overdraft, late payment and dishonour fees, but a $1 rise in the monthly service charge on the bank's main transaction account €” will cost ANZ about $140 million in annual revenue after December 15.Similar reductions by the Westpac Group €” which includes St George Bank €” and the Commonwealth and National Australia banks will strip another $600 million from the fees being charged to millions of customers.The Reserve Bank estimated the banking industry earned $1 billion from penalty charges last year, much of which flowed straight to its collective bottom line. As much as $500 million will be shaved from the big four's profits in the coming year.Recognising the unpopularity of the fees €” and conscious of consumer legislation coming in next January, which will make it easier to challenge the size of such charges €” the big four banks began unveiling changes to their rates in July.They started to take effect this month in the case of NAB, while the new Westpac and Commonwealth fee regimes will apply from October 1.But ANZ will seek to recoup part of the lost revenue by increasing the $5-a-month fee on its main transaction account, Access Advantage, to $6.ANZ said the changes would result in 27 fees being abolished.But consumer lobby group Choice said although the cuts were welcome, customers wanted the banks to justify why any fees were being charged, given some had been abolished.Notably, credit card fees have been "outrageously high", said Choice's Elissa Freeman.
© 2009 The Age
