First Horizon, Sovereign Bank Introduce Simplified Fee Disclosures

First Horizon National (FHN) in Memphis and Sovereign Bank in Boston have joined many of their competitors in making it easier for customers to understand the fees on their accounts.

The Pew Charitable Trusts has acknowledged the banks for introducing simplified, plain-language disclosures of checking account terms and fees. Both the $79 billion-asset Sovereign and First Tennessee Bank, a subsidiary of the $25 billion-asset First Horizon, have joined more than 20 financial in adopting the disclosure guidelines laid out by Pew, which are meant to provide a short, readable summary of account terms.

First Tennessee and Sovereign, a unit of the Spanish banking giant Banco Santander, are among the banks that scored lowest in a rating of account disclosures that Pew released last month. Both have since adopted Pew's recommended disclosure practices.

In May, Ally Bank received the highest score on a similar Pew study of account disclosures.

Pew also recognized Cascade Community Federal Credit Union in Oregon for adopting the disclosure guidelines. On Wednesday, RBS Citizens Financial Group in Providence, R.I., announced the introduction of simplified account disclosures that are modeled on Pew's guidelines.