The end of free current account banking came another step closer this month, when the chief executive of HSBC, Dyfrig John, said that a general move towards annual charges for current accounts and credit cards was “inevitable,” in response to a regulatory clampdown on penalty charges.

Earlier this year the Office of Fair Trading said a survey had found that customers were being charged more than £300m a year in penalties on credit cards, many of which it said were unlawful. It warned that any penalty charge of more than £12 was likely to be unfair. Credit card companies immediately cut their penalty for late payment and charges for breaching the agreed credit limit to the £12 benchmark.

Bank charges are also under scrutiny, with several consumer campaigns under way to encourage customers to reclaim penalty charges, by threatening the banks with court action if the charges exceed the actual cost to the bank of the misdemeanour.

Banks make a sizable chunk of their profits from penalty charges, and any restriction on the amount they are allowed to levy will cause them to look elsewhere for money-raising ideas.

It is therefore no surprise that the banks are trying to lure us into fee-paying accounts costing as much as £200 a year, with perks such as “free insurance” and commission-free foreign currency.

NatWest’s latest venture in this area is the Advantage Blue package of products, which can be added on to most of the bank’s current accounts for a monthly subscription of £6. The existing Advantage Gold package costs £12 a month.

However, when choosing a fee-paying account, you need to be sure that you will take sufficient advantage of the perks to make paying a fee worthwhile, and that incentives such as free travel insurance give you the cover you need. Otherwise, you will need to buy extra insurance elsewhere, making the perk worthless.

Meanwhile, free banking is still the norm if you stay in credit, and even HSBC says it has no plans to withdraw free banking at present. So, you need to look carefully at which account features you are likely to need in order to choose the best deal.