HSBC Cash Cow - £11.5BN Profit is British Banking's Biggest Ever. Second only to the £13bn Shell made last year for the biggest profit in UK history. Up 11% on 2004. The bank's five best paid staff shared £35m. Eddy Weatherill of the Independent Banking Advisory Group said: "These are eye-watering amounts, yet the banks are raising fees and finding new ways of fleecing customers. It's time the government put a stop to it and slapped a windfall tax on them.' But HSBC defended its position, claiming it made only 20 per cent of its profit in the UK. - Daily Mirror 07/03/2006

Debt fears as HSBC makes £12bn profit - HSBC, which also owns the internet bank First Direct, said last years profits were an 11% improvement on the year before. The profit from retail banking in the UK increased 24% - faster than business banking. Eddy Weatherill, of the consumer group the Independent Banking Advisory Service, said banks should have a windfall tax imposed. He blamed them for Britain's personal debt crisis. HSBC doubled its provisions fro bad debts from £317million to £622million, as people struggled to pay off loans. - Telegraph 07/03/2006

£1,000-a-second profits help HSBC post record earnings for British Bank - HSBC unveiled profits of £11.9billion yesterday - the biggest ever recorded by a British Bank. The announcement came after other banks including Barclays, NatWest-Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and Halifax-Bank of Scotland announced record profits and amid claims from some consumer groups that major banks make too much money. HSBC's figures mean the 'big five' made more than £33billion last year. But the big banks are coming under increasing fire for pushing up charges on overdrafts and credit cards. One consumers' group has accused them of ripping off customers and called for the Chancellor Gordon Brown to hit back with a windfall tax.

There is also pressure from within the industry, for a watchdog with teeth to protect consumer interests. Eddy Weatherill, of the Independent Banking Advisory service, said: 'There has been a plundering of the consumer by banks. The industry is under-policed with no real control.'

All major banks have reported a surge in levels of bad debt - a situation they have been accused of fuelling through reckless lending. The banks say they have now tightened their lending rules and vet customers more closely. But Mr Weatherill described this as 'like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted'.

The independent New Economic Foundation think-tank has accused the major banks of profiteering, claiming they target customers who generate big profits, while refusing accounts to those on low incomes - Daily Mail 07/03/2006

How much do banks make out of me? Banks are reporting record profit levels - with HSBC alone making £11.9bn. The big banks between them have announced annual earnings of more than £33bn. But banks are unusual businesses in that not only do they have their own money - and lots of it - they also have our money, tucked away in our accounts and savings.

Eddy Weatherill of the Independent Banking Advisory Service says that current accounts work as a recruiting ground for more lucrative products - such as mortgages, pensions, credit cards and insurance. And this isn't small change, as gross mortgage lending at the beginning of this year was running at over £14bn. Mr Weatherill wants banks to pay a windfall tax, arguing that banks have made excessive profits from excessive charges.

Inflated interest rates, charges, fees and penalties have all been applied to business and personal customers, says Mr Weatherill. And he says that bank customers are, on average, being overcharged by £400 per year and he says that many customers do not realize they might be buying their insurance, using a payment system or getting a loan, all through the same banking organization. Read article at  BBC News Magazine 07/03/2006

1.5m Britons 'are too far in the red ever to pay back loans' - More than 1.5million people are at risk of 'financial meltdown' - weighed down by such massive debts that they can never hope to pay them off. The total debt for those who struggle to make only minimum card and loan repayments each month has been put at £20billion. The average debt of those forced into personal insolvency now tops £37,000 on cards and personal loans.

Meanwhile, the bad debts at Lloyds pile up to nearly £1bn. - Bad debt levels at Lloyds TSB have risen by a third as customers struggle to keep up with loan and credit card repayments. IBAS accused Lloyds TSB of irresponsible lending. Founder Eddy Weatherill, said 'We are talking about real stress and misery' - Daily Mail 25/02/2006

Barclays increases charges as profits soar to £15billion - Barclays is to hit millions of customers with a punishing increase in charges, it emerged yesterday as the bank announced record annual profits. It is pushing up the fee for those who go over their overdraft limit by £5 to £30, which is an inflation busting 20%. Consumer groups accused Barclays and the other major banks of cashing in on debt misery. Consumer groups  accused the banks of using the fees, generated on overdrafts and credit cards, both to punish customers and rake in an income put at £4billion a year. The consumer group IBAS - The Independent Banking Advisory Service - accused Barclays of 'pure greed'. Founder Eddy Weatherill said: 'It is obscene to find that Barclays is pushing up charges which we believe will be proved unlawful. All these charges are generated by computers and cost just pennies, yet the banks are filling their coffers by charging £30 or £35 a time. This is pure profiteering, pure greed. They are picking customers' pockets. It has got to the point where they are abusing the customers.' - Daily Mail 22/02/2006

Barclays row over £15million 'perk' - The head of Barclays Bank was awarded a £15million bonus yesterday - as customers were told of a 700 per cent rise in some charges. IBAS chief Eddy Weatherill said customers would be "apoplectic" at the bonus. He added: "For two years now, the banks have continued to profiteer unchecked. But enough is enough." - Daily Express 22/02/2006

Identity crisis that haunts all bank customers - Fraud: Profits are soaring and so is ID crime. So why aren't the banks doing more to protect our accounts? - Identity fraud is costing Britain £1.7bn a year, Home Office ministers revealed this week, underlining the case for ID cards. But are the banks doing enough to protect us? Critics accuse the banks of skimping on security despite record profits, expected to exceed £30bn this year.

One study claims that sloppy call centre security at the banks leaves current accounts - the cornerstone of most people's finances - at the mercy of attack from ID fraudsters. Rogue direct debits, which send cash from a current account to pay a fraudster's bills, are a particular favourite.

Just before Christmas, Pamela Holmes spotted a string of rogue direct debits had stripped her account of more than £1,000. Abbey, her bank, was unaware that fraudsters were using her account details and personal information to set up transactions.

Ms Holmes was shocked that repeated attacks on her account could be successful. Only once Guardian Money stepped in has anyone from the bank explained how it happened.

Eddy Weatherill of the Independent Banking Advisory Service says Ms Holmes' experience is repeated every day. "The security offered by the banks is not as good as it should be. Someone only needs a small amount of personal information to attack a customer's account." He says banks also fail to give customers information about the fraud and how criminals are targeting their account. "We find the banks are reluctant to do anything other than blame the customer. The Banking Code of Practice is still a joke. The banks don't explain anything properly. They don't tell people what has gone on, or how they can prevent it happening again. The code's first article says customers must be treated fairly, but it all becomes legalistic very quickly," he says. - The Guardian 04/02/2006

Banks face price war over current account that pays 4.25 per cent - Banks are expected to be dragged into a price war after a dramatic move by the Nationwide Building Society. It has launched a current account paying 4.25% interest - higher than many specialist savings accounts from which money cannot be withdrawn immediately. Customers who switched from banks could find themselves £120 a year better off. In a second attack on the Bog Four, Nationwide has pegged the interest rate charged on its authorized overdraft on FlexAccounts to a relatively low 7.75% - by comparison, the big four are around 15% plus.

Eddy Weatherill, of the consumer group Independent Banking Advisory Service, said: 'I believe the Nationwide will get an avalanche of applications. Unlike the big banks, which are all about chasing profits, Nationwide is a mutual operation run in the interests of its customers. Nationwide has different motives from the Big Four, and it shows.'

Which? has been urging the public to shop around for the best current accounts. It claims the major banks are effectively overcharging customers by an average of £400 a year through a range of poor-value deals on loans and savings, together with high fees.

Two existing current accounts pay higher interest than the Nationwide deal. The Abbey has an account paying 6%, but this is a special promotion available only to new customers and runs for 12 months before reverting to the bank's normal 2.5%. Alliance and Leicester's Premier Direct pays 4.89%, but is an Internet-only account. - Daily Mail 17/01/2006