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This is according to the Australian Bankers’ Association (ABA), whose chief executive Anna Bligh believes is due to a combination of factors including strong competition, more low-fee and no-fee products being offered, and the industry’s efforts to educate customers about how to minimise the fees they pay.
An ABA report released today last week, Fees for banking services, shows the average weekly bank fees paid by households is $9, the same amount it has been over the past five years.
“We know how important transaction accounts are for bank customers to do their day-to-day banking and virtually every Australian has one. Pleasingly, the amount households paid in 2016 in fees for their transaction accounts was at its lowest level in 15 years,” Ms Bligh said.
“At the same time, we’re seeing more people using their transaction accounts more often,” she said.
“Also, mortgage fees relative to the number of home loans provided to customers were the lowest on record and fees for credit cards relative to the amount of credit accessed remained at the lowest level in more than a decade.”
Ms Bligh said bank fees paid by businesses for loans were also low when compared to the increase in lending.
“Over the past year, the increase in fees of 2.4 per cent was well below the 8 per cent increase in business loans.
“Large businesses accounted for 58 per cent of bank service fees from business loans,” she said.
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