Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the level of unauthorised overdraft fees charged by banks in the UK.

The Government has not made an assessment of the level of unauthorised overdraft fees charged by banks in the United Kingdom.

In November 2011, the Government announced an agreement with the major current account providers to enable customers to control their account and to take action to avoid unarranged overdraft charges.

The Office of Fair Trading found in January 2013 that there had been a significant reduction in bank fees and charges since their 2008 market study, and estimated that there had been an annual saving of £928million for consumers as a result.

On 6 November 2014, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced its decision to launch an in-depth market investigation into the supply of retail banking services to personal current account customers and to small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK. The CMA have indicated that they will obtain information and analyse the level of transparency in relation to pricing including on penalty charges, quality and service across banks.