Press Release

Fair Trading Commission’s Investigations Relating to Standard Form Contracts Used by Commercial Banks and Local Banking Charges

On Tuesday, December 11, 2012 the Fair Trading Commission (Commission) met with commercial bankers in Barbados and their representatives to discuss the findings of investigations which the Commission completed on Local Banking Charges and Standard Form Contracts Used by Commercial Banks.

Standard Form Contracts Used by Commercial Banks

The Standard Form Contracts investigation was carried out under the authority of the Fair Trading Commission and the Consumer Protection Acts. In this investigation the fairness of one thousand, two hundred and ninety-one (1,291) contract terms used in contracts was assessed.

The Commission’s analysis revealed that fifty-six (56) terms were in breach of the Consumer Protection Act. The Commission has been working with the banks to ensure that these unfair contract terms are amended or deleted. To date, three of the five banks have already made changes to comply with the Consumer Protection Act. The Commission will continue to work with those banks which have not yet complied to ensure full compliance.

Local Banking Charges

The investigation into local banking charges was undertaken under the authority of the Fair Competition Act. This Act is concerned with whether there is a lessening of competition and in this investigation the focus was on ensuring that there was no collusion or anti-competitive conduct including anti-competitive agreements. This investigation did not find evidence of collusion.

The banks have agreed to work with the Commission to review their code of conduct, and to enhance and amend it to become a code of practice which will be beneficial to consumers. The full reports are available below:

1. Report on Standard Form Contracts Used by Commercial Banks
2. Report on Local Banking Charges