Banks should not be allowed to charge poor clients the same fees as rich clients, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says.
In recommendations to this week's hearings in Parliament, Cosatu's Zwelinzima Vavi said regressive charging should be abolished. Charges are regressive when the same amount is charged on transactions of different amounts, because the charge represents a higher proportion of a small transaction than of a large one.
Banks should also provide better disclosure and explanations of bank charges, Vavi said.
Cosatu also called for:
* The creation of a task team from inside and outside the government to investigate a new regulatory framework;
* The creation of a Financial Ombudsman;
* The establishment of a Parliamentary Oversight Committee for the financial sector;
* Full disclosure and explanation of bank charges;
* Increased public sector involvement in banking, for instance, through the Post Office's PostBank;
* More regulation of microlenders; and
* Investigation of the margin between banks' borrowing and lending rates.