Permanent TSB wins with free banking

Bank customers are realising they do not have to pay charges, says DAVID CLERKIN.

NEVER turn down anything that’s on offer for free. It might not qualify as the greatest piece of financial advice of all time, but more than 20,000 bank customers have acted on it by switching their current account to Permanent TSB since its free banking package was launched in January, according to industry estimates.

Permanent TSB won’t confirm the figures for competitive reasons, but head of marketing Niall O’Grady says current account traffic has been one-way since the bank moved to shake up the market and take advantage of new rules to make switching easier. New customers are outnumbering switchers moving in the other direction by around 25 to 1, says Mr O’Grady.