BANKS, credit card companies and internet security firms stand to make hundreds of thousands of pounds from the British public’s donations to the victims of the Asian tsunami disaster.

International charities including Oxfam, the British Red Cross, Christian Aid and Save the Children were attempting last night to persuade their financial partners to waive their transaction fees because of the exceptional nature of the catastrophe.

Charities say that the public response has been faster and bigger than any other disaster appeal. At least £72 million has been pledged by the public so far and the final total is expected to far outstrip the £75 million handed out for famine relief by the Band Aid Trust between 1984 and 2004.

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which had raised £60 million by Saturday, will publish new figures today. All donations to its appeal, made by telephone, online or by cheque, are free of bank charges.

More than £12 million has already been pledged, however, to individual aid organisations and most of this is subject to the charities’ normal bank charges. These typically range from 1 per cent to 3 per cent.

Oxfam has raised more than £4.5 million for its tsunami appeal. Representatives of the charity are meeting the two companies that process its telephone and internet donations today to negotiate an exceptional waiver of their fees.

“We do not get an automatic waiver but we have asked WorldPay and Streamline, our two credit card companies, to grant a special waiver,” a spokesperson said.

If agreed, the waiver is likely to be backdated to account for all donations made since the disaster. “If this is agreed tomorrow, there will be no bank charges and no internet payment charges on any donations to Oxfam’s tsunami fund.”

Christian Aid, which has raised more than £1 million, said it would also be asking its bankers to waive fees. Jeff Dale, the charity’s head of marketing, said: “Given the exceptional nature of this emergency, it is a huge amount of money for the banks to be making. We will be raising it with them. I am sure that the PR benefit for the banks would make it worth their while.”

The British Red Cross, which has raised £4 million, is planning similar action. “Given the volume of donations being handled at the moment, we will have discussions with our bankers about further discounts,” a spokesman said.

Save the Children, which has raised about £500,000, said: “At the moment the credit card companies are still taking their cut but we are in talks to get them to waive it. It all adds up doesn’t it?”

Tearfund, which has raised nearly £1 million through Christian organisations, said that nearly 3 per cent of the value of its credit card online donations had been absorbed by credit card companies and secure internet trading firms. A spokeswoman said: “The DEC has been able to negotiate with the banks to charge no fee. Tearfund has tried to do this in the past but been unsuccessful.”

WorldVision, which has raised more than £270,000 for the disaster victims, said that it had asked the two credit card companies it works with to drop their fees.

The Association for Payment Clearing Services, which represents British banks, said that it would lead a discussion within the industry this week to see if it were possible to drop all charges for donations to the disaster. “Without any doubt it is difficult to take a decision like this over Christmas. Last week people were thin on the ground but this week is business as usual. That is when major decisions like this can be taken.”

A spokesman for the British Bankers Association said that it was up to individual banks and charities to negotiate terms.

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