Commonwealth Bank of Australia announced it would cut overdraft, dishonour and late payment fees, following moves by NAB and Westpac. The CBA move is similar to Westpac's in that it has reduced the fees instead of cutting them altogether, which is what NAB did to its overdrawn account fees. CBA said it would cut overdraft fees from A$30 to A$10, dishonour fees for both personal and business accounts from A$35 to A$5 and late payment fees from A$45 to A$25. Keeping a cash penalty would seek to prevent a minority of customers from deliberately running up overdrafts or constantly missing payments, CAB said. The cuts will be effective from October 1. CBA's New Zealand subsidiary, ASB, told interest.co.nz yesterday a fee review they are currently undertaking should be completed by the end of August.

The CBA move leaves ANZ in Australia the only bank out of the big four to have not yet made a move on fee reductions, although ANZ CEO Mike Smith said yesterday the bank was working on wide-ranging changes to its penalty charges.