A High Court appeal is due to take place today over bank charges.
British banks are launching an appeal against a ruling that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) can decide whether overdraft charges are unfair.
In April, Mr Justice Andrew Smith said the regulator had the powers to make such a judgment under consumer contract regulations, but the banks argue this is not the case and will appear in the High Court later today, the BBC reports.
Overdraft charges net banks more than £2 billion in revenue each year. Today's hearing is the latest in a series of cases that aim to establish whether levying such charges is fair and, if so, how big a fee the banks can impose on customers who exceed their agreed overdraft limits.
Commenting on the appeal, Peter Vicary-Smith, chief executive of the consumer group Which?, said the banks should be working with the OFT on this issue and should begin compensating those customers who have been "overcharged".
"It's extremely disappointing that instead of looking for ways to make their customers' lives easier during these difficult times, the banks are piling on the misery by continuing to hit them with unfairly high unauthorised overdraft fees," he remarked.
Earlier this month, Mr Justice Andrew Smith ruled that most bank customers would not be able to challenge overdraft charges levied between 2001 and 2007 under common law.
