Last updated: March 07, 2011

Customer-linked pay can 'end bank bashing'

A BANKERS pledge to link their pay to customer service could end the bank bashing, a consumer group says.

CHOICE says banks could lift their game by using 14 recommendations in their report, Better Banking, released today.

The report has been presented to Treasurer Wayne Swan, the Senate Economics committee inquiry into banking competition and the bosses of the big banks.

Among the measures in the report are accountability for customer service including through bankers' pay, a removal of ATM fees for on-screen balance enquiries, plain language information about products, the introduction of portable bank account numbers and the removal of barriers to switching a home loan.

Choice's chief executive, Nick Stace, said the report gave banks a real opportunity to improve their standing in the community.


"An opportunity in a sense the banks have a once in a generation chance to shrug off a national obsession with the bank bashing," Mr Stace said in Canberra.

"The door to reform is open. They need to step inside the room."

Mr Stace said consumers wanted to see a change in the banking culture by placing them first.

"It is a bit of anathema to the banks but it is something they are already starting to do," he said.

"Consumers want to see real competition in that they want to move to one bank or another and they want to be supported in doing so."

The other major themes in the report were for banks to play a role in the community and ensure their systems are up-to-date so consumers were not stranded and had to pay for banking errors.

On Tuesday the Commonwealth Bank put all its ATMs offline following a technical glitch in which customers had no access to their account balance but withdraw more money than in their accounts.

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