NewsUK banksBarclays Bankuk banking

Barclays Plans To End 'Sins Of The Past'

Barclays Bids To Banish 'Sins Of The Past'
Asa Bennett
Open Image Modal
Barclays Bank
AP

Barclays has launched a review of its overdraft fees faced by around 12 million current account customers as part of a major overhaul to clean up any "sins of the past".

The shake-up could include extending a text alert service that warns customers when they are a day away from going into the red, and letting those with multiple accounts automatically move money around to avoid overdraft charges.

Ashok Vaswani, head of Barclays' retail and business banking, told The Daily Telegraph: "I'm going through the business with a fine toothcomb. We want to de-risk the business and clean up any sins of the past."

The measures are among 2,600 ideas that it received after asking customers for suggestions to make everyday banking easier.

Barclays' plans come a week after an ethical scorecard ranked the bank at the bottom of a list of 100 banks, at just four out of 100 points.

Reasons Why The Banks Aren't Yet In Order
Barely Anyone Thinks Banks Are Well Run(01 of07)
Open Image Modal
Just 19% of people think banks are competently managed.
They're Still Not Lending To Businesses (02 of07)
Open Image Modal
The big banks have been battling to get money out of the door to help British SMEs but are still struggling as business lending has fallen in most parts of Britain. An investigation by Lawrence Tomlinson, the business department's entrepreneurial adviser, found that government-owned banks were "crucifying" firms in the way they managed their financial support.
PPI Mis-selling Drags On(03 of07)
Open Image Modal
Banks are still paying out millions for mis-sold payment protection insurance.This has led to a peak in complaints too.
Credit Card Theft Insurance Mis-selling Surfaces(04 of07)
Open Image Modal
Over a dozen high street banks and credit card firms have agreed on a compensation fund of more than £1 billion for potentially for seven million people who had been mis-sold credit card and identity theft protection.It all stems from card insurance policies supplied by York-based CPP Group.
Was There Gilt-Rigging?(05 of07)
Open Image Modal
Did the Bank of England miss an attempt by traders to rig the gilt market too? Tory MP Andrea Leadsom thinks so.Financial regulators are investigating. Meanwhile one of the Bank officials said such an attempt at a dodgy trade would be "reprehensible" if proven.
Bank Bonuses Are On The Up (06 of07)
Open Image Modal
Banker bonuses effectively increased by 4% over last year to £38.6 billion, after banks deferred bonuses to take advantage of George Osborne's 50p income tax rate coming in.Osborne's introduction of the lower 45p income tax band, announced in his Budget last year means that the taxpayer lost out on an estimated £85 million as banks deferred £700 million of bonuses to April this year.Also, we have three times more millionaire bankers than the rest of the EU combined.
Oh Yes, And The Libor Rigging (07 of07)
Open Image Modal
Regulators are still looking into the Libor interbank fixing scandal, bringing charges against traders they have managed to single out.
Suggest a correction
|
Submit a tip