Judgment on first stage of OFT test case

Seven banks and one building society (the "Banks") are engaged in a High Court test case with the Office of Fair Trading ("OFT") to decide the legality of unauthorised overdraft charges.

The first stage of the test case process was heard by the Court between 16 January and 8 February 2008 and dealt with certain preliminary issues of legal principle.

On 24 April 2008 the Court issued its judgment on this first stage of the test case process. The judgment is complex and the Banks are currently considering its implications.

Further Court hearings will be required before the test case process is concluded. The likely timetable for the next steps in the test case process will be decided by the Court at a hearing which will take place on 22 May 2008.

As previously agreed with the Financial Ombudsman Service and the FSA, customer complaints relating to unauthorised overdraft charges will currently remain on hold. The Banks will continue to ask County and Sheriff Courts to keep cases relating to unauthorised overdraft charges on hold until the test case process is concluded.