HSBC ATM move welcomed by OFT

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HSBC ATM move welcomed by OFT

Fri 14th Sep 2007

HSBC's move to provide customers with warnings via ATMs should they be approaching their overdraft limit has been welcomed by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

The bank is set to introduce the feature to its 3,500 ATMs in the UK from October 1st in a bid to help people to stay within their limit.

It follows statistics released by YouGov which reveal that 38 per cent of current account holders in the UK have been hit with overdraft charges in the last six years.

In the same report, the researcher claimed that HSBC paid out £120 million in returned fees during the first six months of 2007.

Commenting on HSBC's move, an OFT spokesman said: "Openness and transparency is always something that we would welcome."

HSBC claims that more than 95 per cent of its customers' withdrawals are made via ATMs.