Customers' anger over new bank charges (2)

I, like presumably thousands of Maltese, have a current account with HSBC Bank. I have a standing order on this account to honour a monthly life insurance payment. Through my own fault, the account did not contain enough funds to honour the monthly standing, payment. Receiving a statement I noticed that the bank, in the absence of funds in my account, did not honour the payment, and I guess that is the prerogative of the bank to decide. But what I find obscene, if not outright theft, is that I noticed that I was charged €15 for this mistake on my part.

Had the bank paid the standing order than I would understand, but what expense has the bank incurred to charge a €15 fee, which I would dare call, to put it mildly, a fine? And I hope they do not come up with excuses of the type that it is computer generated.

Several letters have been published in this regard including complaints about monthly charges for use of e-banking, something to which the banks initially lured customers as a free service only to then decide that it must impose a fee for the service provided.

Are there bank regulators in Malta, and if there are, have they been following correspondence in the local media?

Assuming there is a regulatory body locally, are banks free to decide unilaterally when and how to impose charges for services rendered, even when a service is provided by banks initially luring their customers into believing that a particular service is being offered for no fee?

No small wonder that local banks have recently built massive buildings, reduced employees through early retirement schemes, and at year's end register enormous profits by local standards.

Anybody following the present global financial crisis is aware that the credit crunch has been attributed, for the most part, to greed by the banks and similar institutions. Does anybody understand who the greedy party is? Need I say more?