ABA WELCOMES ASIC’S ‘GUIDE TO GOOD TRANSACTION FEE DISCLOSURE’ BANKS COMMITTED TO PRINCIPLES OF TRANSPARENT FEE DISCLOSURE Sydney, 26 June, 2002: The Australian Bankers’ Association welcomes the release of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission’s ‘Guide to Good Transaction Fee Disclosure’ as it will lead to improved fee disclosure for bank customers. David Bell, Chief Executive of the Australian Bankers’ Association (ABA), said the ABA and retail member banks have been working on this initiative to improve transparency through participation on the ASIC Transaction Fee Disclosure Working Group, along with other financial institutions, regulators and representatives from consumer organisations. “The ‘Guide to Good Transaction Fee Disclosure’ will provide bank customers with the opportunity to better understand the fee structures applying to their accounts so they can make more informed choices,” Mr Bell said. "Banks already comply with several of the principles.” The good practice principles cover: Pre-Contractual Disclosure – recent simplification in a number of bank's day-to-day transaction products has further improved these types of disclosures; Notice of changes in fees – banks already provide notice to customers via mail, e-mail and newspaper advertisements; Disclosure on statements – several banks already provide this detailed fee information; Disclosure on request – a number of banks currently or expect to comply with principles covering fee disclosure via ATMs, telephone and Internet banking; Optional real time fee disclosure – this will be driven by technological advancements adopted by individual banks and customer demand. Mr Bell said banks agree with the Guide principle that real time fee disclosure should ideally be an option for bank customers, but was pleased to see that ASIC had recognised the commercial realities of its provision. On real time fee disclosure, ASIC has stated in the Guide that: “It is recognised that because of the costs associated with complying with this last principle, it may be some time before many institutions are in a position to meet it.” (*see source below) Mr Bell said: “Banks would have to significantly re-engineer their entire systems to make them real time and if the introduction was rushed it could lead to a slow response time on ATMs.” “In addition, the ABA welcomes the Government's response to the Parliamentary Joint Statutory Committee Report into fees on electronic and telephone banking. The response recognised the important role of the market in delivering appropriate disclosures to customers.” “The ABA is pleased it recognised the costs of implementing real time disclosure and banks will be cooperating with ASIC's proposed review on this issue.” Notes for editors: *Source: ASIC Guide to Good Transaction Fee Disclosure for Bank, Building Society and Credit Union Deposit and Payment Products (Transaction Accounts)- Executive Summary page 4.  See website www.asic.gov.au   For further information contact: Heather Wellard ABA PR Phone:  02 8298 0411 Mobile:  0409 830 439 ENDS