Fair trading office delays bank charges ruling

The Office for Fair Competition has delayed a decision in an inquiry into the introduction of bank charges by HSBC last year.

The results of the inquiry were expected to be concluded by mid-July. But Marcel Pizzuto, director general of the Consumer and Competition Division, said that another top priority case was being investigated.

However, a decision on HSBC was expected to be taken by mid-August, Mr Pizzuto said.

The Office for Fair Competition was recently asked to investigate a shipping line's complaint that carriers Sea Malta and Grimaldi have threatened trailer operators with a price increase on other routes if they used the line's cheaper container service.

The Malta Financial Services Authority had requested the office to investigate HSBC's decision to impose a 75c charge on pension cheques issued by the Central Bank.

It also asked it to investigate a Lm4 administration fee imposed by HSBC if the average of the combined balances of an account holder's savings and current accounts does not exceed Lm75.

HSBC had defended the bank's new charges saying that new services had more than made up for them and that the bank had provided more than enough alternatives to enable customers to avoid the charges.

Mr Pizzuto defended the delay, saying the office had limited resources and that several complicated issues needed to be taken into consideration before a decision was taken.