Fed: ACA seeks laws to make basic bank accounts a reality

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Fed: ACA seeks laws to make basic bank accounts a reality

By Peter Williams

SYDNEY, Feb 4 AAP - A consumer group today called for the federal government to forcebanks to provide a basic account for low-income customers.

The Australian Consumers Association (ACA) said legislation seemed the only way toprovide such accounts after the banks abandoned a process to create them.

ACA financial services policy officer Catherine Wolthuizen, writing in the summer 2003issue of Consuming Interest magazine, said the Australian Bankers Association (ABA) hadturned its back on months of constructive work.

Ten major banks last December dropped …