Free banking will still come at a cost

By Brian O'Mahony(BR>IT never made any sense that the banks saw their customers as a cost and spent decades driving them out of their branches.

Launching new customer-centred initiatives on Thursday, Bank of Ireland chief executive Brian Goggin said the perception existed that the bank wanted to banish customers from its 250 branch network.

It was more than a perception, and it is the case that, for quite a while, the banks became obsessed with costs and the famous Cost Income Ratio was addressed with a vengeance.