Sir, - In common with many of your readers, I recently received notification from American Express that they are to increase their charge on foreign currency transactions from one per cent to 1.75 per cent. Their justification for this exorbitant 75 per cent increase is to bring their fee: "in line with the fee charged by major credit cards."
Is this evidence that the financial institutions are positioning themselves for the advent of the Euro, when we will all be charged 1.75 per cent to convert savings, borrowings, mortgages, credit card balances, etc. from Punts to Euros? -Yours, etc., Graham Liddy,
Naas, Co Kildare.