Record Bank Profits At Consumers' Expense - Liberal Democrats

2.25.52pm GMT Mon 1st Mar 2004

Commenting on reports that HSBC will tomorrow unveil the biggest profits recorded by a British bank, Vince Cable MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, said: "When all leading clearing banks are simultaneously producing almost identical results involving record profits it becomes clear that something else is involved than the quality of management.

"Banks are collectively benefitting from a whole series of semi-monolistic practices, which are highly lucrative in a period of record consumer debt and borrowing."

"It is not a coincidence that the Office of Fair Trading last week told the banks that they should be paying their costumers when delaying clearing their cheques. At present banks make large amounts of money from the 'float' between the presentation of cheques and their clearance. But instead of asking nicely, the Office of Fair Trading should be putting its foot down and insisting that such uncompetitive practice is stopped."

"Taken together with a blatant lack of transparency in credit card charging it is very clear that a significant amount of profits of HSBC and others has nothing to do with management skills but is simply happening at the expense of millions of consumers."