The essence of effective competition in any marketplace is the ease with which customers can change suppliers. In the grocery business, which I know something about, that happens to a large extent. It is easy to take one's business to a retailer that is to one's liking and also to chop and change between service providers. People have the choice of shopping with me or with my competitor down the road because there are no barriers in place to prevent them making that choice. That is not the case with banks. Moving one's bank account is an enormous hassle which anyone who has not done so will discover if they dare to try. This need not be so, but the banks have deliberately designed the system in order to retain business. There is nothing to prevent banks creating artificial barriers to stop the customer from exercising choice, but we can change that if we wish.