Banks have been asked to reduce their fees by the Treasurer, Peter Costello. With the costs of deposit and loan facilities increasing by 2.2 per cent in the September quarter and 3.5 per cent over the last year, Mr Costello said that he had written to the Australian Bankers Association the level of fees being charged. "You have to look at the fact that most of the banks have got their 'exception' fees, which are the fees banks charge when cheques bounce," he said. "The fees they were charging bore no relation to the actual cost to the bank." While some banks, including ANZ and NAB have moved to reduce penalty fees for credit cards and NAB has introduced new deposit accounts with no monthly service fees Mr Costello said that there was still room for more competitive products.
