Banks 'over-charging retailers'

BANKS have been accused of imposing "illogical and unjustifiably high" fees on retailers after a survey revealed shops and online stores paid £659 million last year for payment processing and cash collection.

In its annual payments survey, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said the average charge for processing a credit card payment was 37.1p, making up 44.5 per cent of retailers' payment costs despite accounting for only 10 per cent of transactions.

BRC director-general Stephen Robertson wants to seee bank charges that "genuinely reflect" the actual costs involved.

He said: "Unjustifiably high payment charges are still being taken from retailers."