It'll take more than a tickle to push bank customers into switching

The Competition and Markets Authority's suggested measures for reform of the banking sector will have little effect

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had three options. The first was the radical one of breaking up the big banks on the grounds that nothing less would address the "striking" stability in market shares over time. The second route was the imaginative idea of abolishing "free" in-credit banking, thereby exposing the rotten rates for savers and, perhaps, encouraging punters to shop around. The third was a technocratic fiddle to try to tell customers what they're missing.

To the surprise of almost nobody, the CMA chose the third - a tickle. It used different language, of course. Alasdair Smith, the panel chairman, thinks the measures will have "a far-reaching impact on how banks operate and will empower account holders to search for and switch to the account that suits them best".