Banks will also face added pressure from Washington, which is set to crack down on credit card penalties and debit card overdraft fees, two crucial revenue streams.
The Dodd-Frank act restricted credit-card penalties and overdraft fees, and proposed a cap on the amount banks can charge retailers for debit-card transactions.
Others worry how banks will make up lost revenue as Washington cracks down on credit card penalties and debit card overdraft fees.
In reality, of course, these charges are punishment for doing something unauthorised and are no more legally sustainable than credit card penalties.
But a study of credit card penalties published last year in the Journal of Financial Stability, "The Cost of Being Late," shows that banks with bigger market shares tend to charge higher fees.
Many individuals have threatened legal action against the banks after Guardian Money's Richard Colbey, a barrister, first exposed in October 2004 that the legal foundation for credit card penalties was built on sand.
In recent weeks we have highlighted the questionable legal basis of credit card penalties and unauthorised overdraft charges, and many readers have managed to obtain refunds after following the advice of our legal correspondent, Richard Colbey.
It began to examine the charges in 2006 after a successful campaign to reduce credit card penalty fees.
The poor performance of their Wall Street-related businesses and the elimination of once-lucrative overdraft and credit card penalty fees have weighed on their results.
