UK Banks £2 billion richer after UK Supreme Court ruling
It is believed that UK banks had put aside £2 billion to cover what would have been a massive compensation bill if the UK Supreme Court had ruled in favour of the Office of Fair Trading. However, as we covered in some of our earlier articles today, the UK Supreme Court has decided that the Office of Fair Trading does not have the jurisdiction to rule whether overdraft charges in the UK banking sector are "unfair".
Many people had taken it for granted that the ruling from the UK Supreme Court would be in favour of the Office of Fair Trading and ultimately in favour of UK consumers. The signals from within the UK Supreme Court were indicating the "rubberstamping" of the Office of Fair Trading's positioned although for some strange reason there appears to have been a massive U-turn over the last couple of days.
While the announcement has sent shockwaves through consumer groups and the UK banking sector as a whole, we need to wait for the detailed ruling to see exactly what grounds were considered with regards to the outcome of the case. Whether we will see any significant changes in banking fees in the UK in the short to medium term is debatable but one thing is for sure, the UK banking sector as a whole is breathing a massive sigh of relief this evening!
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