Which? claim six out of ten people feel they have paid an ‘unfair’ bank charge and more than 90% want banks to be more transparent on their fees.
Their research says nine out of 10 people think the financial regulator should have more power while 93% said they want bank charges be fairer.
Richard Lloyd, Which? executive director, said: "The House of Lords has an opportunity today to make sure the Financial Conduct Authority gets the powers it needs.
“It has to be able to clamp down on hidden and excessive charges because for too long, the banks have got away with hiding rip off charges.
“To be a true consumer watchdog, the new regulator must be given this explicit power. It must have the legal basis to be confident to stand up for consumers and up to the banks.”
Adam Phillips, Financial Services Consumer Panel chair added: “Yet again we find ourselves debating another financial services scandal caused by the defective culture of financial services providers. Historically, financial services providers such as bank managers could be trusted to act in the best interests of consumers. We need to instil a new philosophy in our major banks and financial institutions of honest, fair and professional behaviour towards customers. This needs to be embraced throughout these organisations and in particular at the highest levels.
"At their core, recent scandals such as interest rate swap misselling have the pursuit of profit with a complete disregard for the interests of customers. The incentive to bend the rules and to make a profit at the expense of the client needs to be removed. This must extend to examining the dubious reward structures which have been found to incentivise misselling.
"Given the strength of cross party support we hope this will galvanize the Government into accepting the amendment. Only tough action to change the culture of firms will result in more ethical behaviour.”
