Call for harmony puts banks in a tizzy

There's nothing like watching banks trying to present themselves as a group more sinned against than sinning to give one cause to chuckle.

This week, financial services reacted with horror over plans by the European Union to force them to harmonise the amounts they charge for euro transactions across national boundaries with the amount charged for domestic transactions.

You can see the logic. After all, we are supposed to be in the one currency zone - i.e. the euro zone is our domestic market. Still, the EU is probably being somewhat simplistic in assessing the reality of the common market.

There is, as yet, no euro-zone-wide clearing system for financial services. Of course, it could be the EU is just putting a shot across the bows of the banks.

After all, the arrival of the euro is hardly breaking news and the banks have done very little to develop such a cross-border clearing system.

Could it have something to do with the fact that such a move will cost the sector and take the sheen off profits in the short term?