A regulator with no teeth leaves us in current account confusion

Do you know what is a constant disappointment? Regulators and watchdogs that take forever to decide that they can do little to improve things. On Monday it was the turn of the Competition and Markets Authority to disappoint with its latest update on its investigation into the current account market.

The problems with current accounts are simple. They are confusing, with different banks adopting different terms and conditions which means it’s almost impossible to work out which is the best deal.

The solution to that problem would be to force banks to scrap many of the add-ons they offer and stick to the same menu of services as each other so you could see at a glance which is the cheapest if you go overdrawn and which is the most generous if you keep money in your account.

But it’s another problem that well-heeled bank customers with a bit of a nest-egg can get paid a decent interest rate – in fact on some accounts it’s better than most savings accounts. Meanwhile, struggling customers get hit with penalties and charges if they slip into the red.

It means – as in so many others areas in life – the accounts are designed to benefit the wealthier while penalising the poor. I don’t think that’s fair. We should all pay the same for our banking, not pass on all the costs to those that can’t afford to pay.

To support that, the banks should do much more to promote the new fee-free basic accounts that were launched in January.

Back to the regulator. What did the CMA announce on Monday? That its report of its investigation is being put back three months until August. There was a reason: it wanted more time to consider proposals to help reduce problems with unauthorised overdrafts, with one idea put forward being to cap charges.

That would help stop us being ripped-off for going into the red, but the delay means the investigation will have been going on for four years. That’s at least three years too long.