Westpac is to radically reduce a range of penalty fees on its bank accounts from October.
The announcement follows the Bank of New Zealand's move last week to stop charging honour, dishonour and unpaid bill fees.
Banks in Australia are cutting or abolishing a range of fees ahead of consumer law changes and New Zealand banks are acting in parallel.
Westpac says it will follow its Australian parent in reducing fees for cheque dishonour, failed automatic payments, late credit card payments or over-spends for both personal and business customers.
Those fees will drop from $25 or $30 dollars to $9 and honour fees will go altogether.
Westpac says it decided to reduce, rather than scrap, most fees because customers still have an obligation to keep their accounts in balance.
