As from 1 February 2009, HSBC will be charging a nominal fee to customers subscribed to its Personal Internet Banking.

The Bank has issued a notice stating that such a fee will be debited from the customers’ account on every anniversary of the first registration to the service.

It has become customary for HSBC (and other Banks) to arbitrarily introduce such charges.

I dare say that the new fee announced by the Bank is purely an outright rip-off. It is indeed sad that MFSA does very little to clamp down on such practices.

Emmanuel Mazzitelli

St Venera