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Massachusetts makes another attempt to regulate bank fees
BOSTON -- Proposed legislation in the Massachusetts state Legislature would require banks to ask for state approval each time they want to raise their fees, according to the Associated Press. Efforts to more tightly regulate banks in the ever-consolidating Massachusetts market have failed the last two years, but supporters say that FleetBank's recent merger with BankBoston may make reform more likely. State Rep. Jarrett T. Barrios said that the Fleet-BankBoston and Citizens Bank-US Trust mergers had created a lack of competition that could result in more more fees for services such as check writing and ATM use. Barrios' proposal would require banks to receive approval from the state Division of Banks before introducing new fees. The bank would have to prove the fees are necessary to pay for administrative behavior or to deter certain consumer behavior, such as bouncing checks. Barrios' proposal follows repeated efforts in the Legislature to regulate the state's banking industry through a ban on ATM fees. Those efforts failed.
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