Bank practices hindering competition

BANKS have not done enough to remove anti-competitive practices and should be forced to become more customer-friendly if they do not do so voluntarily, the state competition watchdog said yesterday.

The Competition Authority’s report on the banking sector, published yesterday, said barriers to competition were costing small businesses €85 million every year and deterring personal customers from getting the best banking deals possible. The report confirmed the initial findings of a draft report published last December and set out a shopping list of 25 demands on banks, the Financial Regulator and the government to improve competition in the sector.

Competition Authority chairman John Fingleton said increased competition was necessary to make banks take greater notice of customer needs. “The Competition Authority has identified a number of areas where competition is not allowed to develop freely and unencumbered and we have made appropriate recommendations,” he said.