A new report from consumer lobby group Choice will keep the pressure on banks to make it easier to move accounts from one institution to another.The Better Banking report, released yesterday recommends 14 changes to retail banking in areas including not only account-switching but also bank governance, ATM fees and disclosure.It's the latest call for banking industry change in a wave of reform suggestions that has already brought a nine-point Opposition ideas list and December's 13-point plan from Treasurer Wayne Swan.Choice, the public face of the Australian Consumers' Association, carries some political clout with the Federal ALP: among other victories, it successfully lobbied for the national consumer credit protection laws passed in 2009.The Choice report gives greatest attention to bank-switching. It admits the rate of transaction-switching is low in Australia, a fact that the Australian Bankers Association has pointed to in defence of the status quo.But Choice says surveys prove customers are dissatisfied with the Big Four, though they have shrunk the satisfaction gap between themselves and the smaller banks.Choice argues switching rates would arise if switching were easier, as it is in telecommunications and superannuation. Its 2010 bank customer survey found one in four participants would be more likely to switch if they could keep the same account number."Portable account numbers" are the first of Choice's 14 recommendations. The Federal Government already has former Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Bernie Fraser conducting a feasibility study on number portability. The Australian Bankers Association (ABA) claims it would be costly for both banks and the government, with no evidence that it would make a significant difference to consumers.The Government has also pledged to entrench the guarantee on consumers' bank deposits, Choice's second recommendation, and is legislating to ban mortgage exit fees, a major element of Choice's third recommendation. As the ABA's CEO, Steven Munchenberg, put it, "A lot of Choice's list is already being dealt with through various forums".Among Choice's other recommendations:* Create a legal duty for shareholders and boards to hold executives and board chairs to account for failures in customer service. * Remove ATM fees for on-screen balance inquiries.* Make banks ensure that all communities - particularly indigenous communities - have access to affordable payment services. Choice says the RBA has inadequately monitored the impact of its ATM reforms.* Improve disclosure about various services, and put the disclosures in plain English.* Establish a specialist consumer watchdog agency.* Establish a "super-complaints mechanism" to let dispute resolution providers and consumer organisation - such as Choice - formally raise significant issues directly with regulators.Choice claimed in a statement yesterday that the report had been driven by research showing banks disregard customer needs and provide poor service, and by "the negligible degree of real competition between major players in the banking industry".The timing of that last comment was in one sense unfortunate. It came after a fortnight of marketing warfare between the banks that started with the NAB's "break up with your bank" campaign that now has bank analysts warning that the battle