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'SA banking expensive'

  1. Posted on Wednesday 6 January 2010 - 12:04
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    South Africa’s Banking Ombudsman’s office has said that the country’s banks were charging more than they should be by using complicated fee structures to make it difficult to compare products between banks.

    “Banks charge you for just about every single interaction,” said Banking Ombudsman’s complaints investigations manager Johan Simpson.

    The advocate added that the ombudsman receives complaints daily from consumers regarding high banking fees.

    “I do not think we will ever stop getting complaints about high banking charges,” said Simpson who was not convinced that banks had done enough to improve the situation since the Competition Commission held an enquiry into high prices last year.

    Despite the commission producing 28 recommendations, and increased regulation through the promulgation of the National Credit Act which put caps on certain fees, South Africa’s banks still charge of the highest fees in the world according to Simpson.

    “The bulk of bank charges are, unfortunately, unregulated. It is regulated only by the competition between the banks,” said Simpson.

    Simpson added that while banks have decreased certain fees since the enquiry that other rates have increased, cancelling out any advantage to consumers, and that complex fee structures used by the country’s “big four” banks made it “difficult for any consumer to compare apples with apples when opening an account”.

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