BANKS COMMITTED TO PRINCIPLES OF TRANSPARENT FEE DISCLOSURE ABA welcomes ASIC's Draft Guide to Good Transaction Fee Disclosure Sydney, 4 April 2001: The Australian Bankers' Association (ABA) welcomes the release of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission's Draft Guide to Good Transaction Fee Disclosure as it will lead to improved fee disclosure for bank customers. CEO of the ABA, David Bell, 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 proposals included in the ASIC draft Guide will provide 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 support and will implement the proposals for improved fee disclosure covering statements, Internet banking, telephone banking, disclosure of ATM fees when customers use an ATM other than one which belongs to their bank, and disclosure of ATM and Electronic Funds Transfer surcharges," he said. "There are also a number of areas where banks already comply with the principles regarding statements and disclosure of ATM fees when customers use an ATM other than one which belongs to their bank." "Banks support the ASIC Transaction Fee Disclosure Group continuing this important work and look forward to the finalisation of the Guide." The banks have already agreed to implement these proposals contained in the ASIC draft Guide: Statements - two banks already provide detailed fee information, more banks will follow. ATM fees - seven banks have agreed that customers using an ATM which does not belong to their own bank should know at the point of transaction whether they will be charged a fee. Internet banking - clear and prominent links to information about fees and charges for products offered through the individual bank websites; Telephone Banking - options that enable customers to access information about fees that apply to those transaction accounts accessed through telephone banking; ATM and Electronic Fund Transfer surcharges should be disclosed to customers, even though this does not yet occur in the Australian marketplace. Mr Bell said real time fee disclosure would be possible in the future as technology develops but it should be driven by customer demand. "For many customers, real time fee disclosure is not an issue because, depending on the bank, up to three-quarters of customers do not pay any fees on personal transaction accounts," he 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." "Banks will consider real time fee disclosure in more detail when they redesign and upgrade their equipment." Mr Bell said the other proposals in the ASIC draft Guide are being considered in more detail and shortly banks will provide their views to ASIC. For further information contact: Heather Wellard ABA PR Phone: 02 8298 0411 Mobile: 0409 830 439     ENDS