Banking: New Barclays boss favours account fees

An end to free banking could be on the cards at Barclays after Sir David Walker, newly appointed chairman of the bank, indicated his support for the idea of paying for current accounts.

Echoing the remarks of regulators, Walker said that "in principle" he agreed customers should pay because it might prevent mis-selling of financial products. "Because banks are not charging, it drives them inexorably into this sort of position," Walker said in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph shortly after being named as the replacement for Marcus Agius, who is leaving in the wake of Libor rigging scandal. Andrew Bailey, a top regulator at the Financial Services Authority, has described the concept of free banking as a "myth" and raised the prospect of intervention in the market to ensure customers can see what they are paying for. Jill Treanor