July 2001
Banking Services Consumer Codes Review Group (Julius Report)
Banking services play a major, and ever increasing, role in our lives. Over ninety per cent of UK adults have some kind of bank or building society account, and there are over eleven million mortgages in the UK. These services provide crucial benefits, ranging from the day-to-day ease of paying bills, to enabling people to buy their own homes. Problems in the delivery of these services therefore have the potential to cause significant disadvantage to consumers.
The background to the establishment of our Review Group was the Cruickshank report and the perception of widespread public discontent with the standards of banking services in the
UK. Our Group did not find strong evidence of the latter. We did find evidence of consumer detriment in some well known areas, but this needs to be placed in the context of the large number of transactions that take place in these markets, the vast majority of which are conducted smoothly and satisfactorily.
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