Gulf customers have voiced their dissatisfaction at bank charges in the region, with 60 percent of respondents to an extensive Arabian Business poll rating their bank charges as "high" or "extortionate".

At the same time, almost one in three respondents said that the interest rates offered by their bank were "terrible".

Altogether, 58 percent of those polled said that their banks’ rates were either "inadequate" or "terrible".

The Arabian Business Banking Survey 2010 attracted more than 800 respondents across the six Gulf states.

Conducted over a six-week period, it collected information from readers of 63 different nationalities, who were the customers of more than 60 different banks in the region.

More data from the Arabian Business Banking Survey will be published online soon.