Foreign news: Milking captive current account customers
In an update to its review of retail banking business models, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority said high overdraft fees and lower interest rates allow Britain's biggest banks to generate up to half their current account profits from just ten per cent of customers, reports the FT. The FCA said the big banks benefit from a "captive audience" of customers who are reluctant to switch banks and can be cross-sold other products even if offered worse rates than at other banks and offered to other customers. Overdraft fees and charges provide around 30 per cent of current account profits - and just two per cent of accounts pay more than half of all overdraft charges. The regulator said the review would inform its work to reform overdraft rules.