By Andrew Downie in São Paulo

Anyone who’s stood in line at Brazil’s banks, paid credit card interest rates currently averaging out at 238 per cent a year or simply had to wade through the screen and screens of sales pitches before they can even withdraw a tenner from the ATM, knows that clients are hardly treated as valued and respected customers.

The federal public prosecutor’s office in Rio de Janeiro evidently agrees. The office this week filed a suit against Santander, Itau-Unibanco and HSBC accusing them of imposing illegal bank charges on clients.

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