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The OFT has dropped its investigation into bank account charges.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has announced that it will not go ahead with an investigation into the fairness of unarranged overdraft charging terms, but emphasised that it remains concerned for bank account customers.

Following the Supreme Court’s recent judgment that unarranged overdraft charging terms could not be assessed in full under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations 1999, the OFT has decided that any investigation under the regulations would be “narrow”, with “limited prospects of success”.

John Fingleton, chief executive of the OFT, conceded that the Supreme Court judgment was disappointing for many bank account holders.

He revealed: “We remain deeply concerned that the market for personal current accounts is not working well for consumers and does not give banks sufficient incentives to compete.

“We are committed to securing significant changes to unarranged overdraft charges going forward, whether through voluntary agreement with the banks or by other means.”

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg described the decision as “a blow for millions of bank customers”.

However, the British Bankers’ Association welcomed the OFT’s announcement and released a statement saying: “The current account market continues to be a dynamic and competitive market and banks continue to take further steps to improve the transparency of charges on statement sheets.”

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