The banks are robbing your money!

national | consumer issues | opinion/analysis Thursday May 27, 2004 17:12 by Solas

Rececent revelations regarding AIB overcharging merely underline the contempt banking and financial issues have for ordinary people.

Recent revelations regarding foreign exchange overcharging by Allied Irish Banks (AIB) are further evidence of the contemptuous and irresponsible activity of banking institituions in Ireland.
This latest example of the utter contempt banks and indeed other financial insititutions have for ordinary people comes in the wake of banks withdrawing services from working class areas across Dublin and in various rural areas around the country often triggering economic and social decline in the affected communities. This is at the same time that they are making record billions in profits every year.
The banks and other institutions are licenesed by the state. Their arrogance is a result of a culture that has developed in Ireland over a long period of time in which the banks were allowed to operate as they liked without being challenged.
Investigation of the banking institutions, proper regulation and immediate repayment of people's money are immediate priorities. But banks need to be forced into some form of accountability to the community where they are often the sole provider of essential services. They cannot be allowed to just vacate an area after making a tidy profit over many years.