FSB call on Secretary of State to tackle bank charges

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has called on the Secretary of State Paul Murphy to invite the local CEOs of Northern Ireland’s four main banks to an urgent meeting to account for the accusations of overcharging customers in the province.

It follows this week's damning report from consumer watchdog, Which?, which accused the Bank of Ireland, First Trust, Northern Bank and Ulster Bank of overcharging customers for “virtually every service they offer”.

FSB Regional Chairman John Friel said: “While a formal complaint has been lodged to the Office of Fair Trading, we would call upon the Secretary of State to intervene now and invite the local CEO’s of the four main banks to a meeting, to give an account of themselves.

“We have heard numerous horror stories from our members of overcharging from our local banks. Many of our members have expressed the view that business banking is more expensive in Northern Ireland than it is in Great Britain.

“The Government can no longer stand by and ignore the crippling running costs incurred by small businesses in Northern Ireland. We are sick, sore and tired of High Bank Costs, Insurance, Electricity, Transport, Rates and soon to be [added] Water Charges putting a huge burden on small businesses all of which deter many people from starting their own small business and prevent small businesses from expanding.”

Monday’s Which? report, which comes amid mounting concerns over the lack of any real competition in the local retail banking market, is to be presented to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

Its findings revealed that a customer with a £500 authorised overdraft for two weeks each month could pay £11 per year with a Which? Best Buy account. But with a current account from one of the big four Northern Irish banks they could pay up to £236 a year.

(MB/SP)