Information handed out by some banks to their customers was “incomprehensible” while fees were “opaque”, according to a European Commission report on banks.

The study found that only 9% of EU consumers switched current accounts between January 2007 and December 2008, compared with 25% of car insurance customers. A lack of transparency about the products and services banks are offering helped account for the lack of new customers among bank.

“Retail bankers are letting consumers down,” said EU consumer commissioner Meglena Kuneva.

“There is widespread evidence that basic consumer principles are being violated with problems from complex pricing to hidden charges and information that is unclear and incomplete.

“Banks need to put their house in order with a culture change in the way they treat customers.”

The Commission studied accounts offered by 224 banks across the EU. It found that in 66% of cases, experts needed to ask for further information about banking fees. Moreover, one in 10 banks did not post any information about fees on their websites.

Current account charges ranged from €253 euros (£229) in Italy to €27 (£24) in Bulgaria on average per year, with the UK ranking 17th in terms of expense at an average €103 (£93) per year.

Consumers in countries with “opaque” price structures, including Austria, France, Italy and Spain,paid more for their bank accounts.

The report also said that it was “almost impossible” for some customers to understand what charges they would be subject to from the information available to them.

The commission wants Europe-wide price comparison websites to be set up in order that consumers have a clear idea of what signing up to a particular bank account entails.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 at 3:59 pm and is filed under Banking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.