Consumers ‘obstructed’ from changing banks

THE Government should introduce rules to force banks to allow the quick and easy transfer of accounts from one bank to another in order to increase competition and lower consumer prices, an Oireachtas Committee heard yesterday.

As the Oireachtas Finance and Public Service Committee considered evidence gathered from presentations made by the major banks and other interested parties, Fine Gael’s finance spokesman Richard Bruton said it was not acceptable that customers were being obstructed from changing banks easily.

There was no code of practice regulating the issue in Ireland, which restricted the ability of ordinary customers to shop around, he said.