Briefs: BOQ director resigns, NAB class action deadline looms, more Britons switch accounts, Wells F 27 January 2015 4:55PM John Kavanagh Briefs, Long-serving Bank of Queensland director Steve Crane has resigned from the board. Crane, who joined the BOQ board in 2008, was chief executive of ABN Amro Australia between 1998 and 2003. His role as chair of the board's risk committee will be filled by Bruce Carter. Financial Redress, which is managing the bank fees class actions on behalf of customers, has set a deadline of 4 pm today for National Australia Bank customers who believe they have been affected by excessive fees to register for membership of the class. The group said in a statement that 40,000 NAB customers have so far joined the class action. The lead case against ANZ is awaiting judgement in the Court of Appeal. The number of Britons switching bank accounts grew by 12 per cent to 1.2 million in 2014, marking progress in the government's push to boost competition amongst banks, according to the UK Payments Council. "The number of people switching banks continues to grow, showing that customers are prepared to move banks to get a better deal which is great news for competition in banking," said junior UK Chancellor Andrea Leadsom. Santander attracted the most net new accounts, while Barclays and the Co-operative Bank lost the most customers. JPMorgan and Wells Fargo have agreed to collectively pay more than US$35 million to settle charges that their loan officers illegally traded referrals for cash and marketing services. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Maryland Attorney General took action against the two banks over involvement in an illegal marketing services kickback scheme organised by Genuine Title, a now defunct title company. "These banks allowed their loan officers to focus on their own illegal financial gain rather than on treating consumers fairly," said CFPB director Richard Cordray. Wells Fargo will pay a $24 million penalty plus another $10.8 million in redress to customers. JP Morgan will pay a $600,000 penalty, plus $300,000 in redress. The chiefs of two of the biggest US banks are set to receive more attractive pay packages for 2014 after both JPMorgan Chase & Co and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. logged banner years. The Wall Street Journal reported that JPMorgan chief executive, James Dimon would receive US$20 million in total compensation for 2014 and Goldman Sachs chairman Lloyd Blankfein would receive salary and bonuses worth up to $24 million (up four per cent from 2013). A more protectionist ethos may be taking hold among banking regulators in China. Home grown IT suppliers and BPO firms will be favoured under a new policy. China Business News reports that the China Banking Regulatory Commission issued internal targets for the hardware and software "nationalisation" of the country's banking IT infrastructure, with a target of 75 per cent by 2019. Progress to this "nationalisation rate" will be a factor in year-end quantitative evaluations.