Banks and other financial institutions increased their "unit fees" in a number of areas last financial year, including credit card annual fees, home loan package fees, business loan fees and merchant transaction fees.The latest Reserve Bank survey of bank fees shows that fees grew by 3.5 percent during the 2015 financial year to around A$12.5 billion. Household fees grew by 2.9 per cent and business fees by 3.9 per cent.The rate of growth in fee income was the highest in three years.In recent years the growth in bank fees has been the result of increases in transaction volumes, for the most part. That was a factor last year but there were also more increases in "unit fees" reported in the survey.Households paid $4.3 billion in fees. Growth in housing and personal lending fees was modest, while fee income from deposits declined.Growth in fee income from housing loans was consistent with housing credit growth, although there was some growth in home loan package fees.The fall in fee income from deposit accounts was a result of customers shifting to products with lower fees, such as online savings accounts.The introduction of 31-day notice periods for withdrawals from term deposits meant that there were fewer break fees for early withdrawals.There were fewer ATM charges because of a fall in the volume of transactions.The credit card fee increase of 6.6 per cent was the result of higher volumes increases increases in unit fees. Annual fees on non-reward cards rose 4.7 per cent. Foreign currency conversion fees rose 0.3 per cent.Businesses paid $8.2 billion in fees, with growth driven by higher merchant fees and business loan fees. The increase in loan fee income was a result of a combination of higher volumes and higher unit fees.Growth in merchant fee income was largely a result of growth in the number and value of merchant transactions, resulting from a higher number of merchant terminals on issue and increased use of contactless payments.A few banks also increased unit costs on merchant fees.