HSBC is said to refund customers across five countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region after charging them excessive foreign currency fees on debit and credit card transactions, the Bank said on Wednesday.

The lender's actions have affected customers in the UAE, Egypt, Oman, Bahrain as well as Lebanon, Gulf Daily News reported, citing a spokeswoman for the bank as saying and noting that the step was taken following an internal review of the Bank's terms and conditions for those products.

'We found we could have better explained how we charged fees for foreign currency transactions, especially if more than one fee was applicable,’ the spokeswoman said, adding that 'HSBC believed the right thing to do was to refund customers any amount that was not entirely clear in the terms and conditions.'

She declined to comment on how much the Bank was refunding its customers or how many such customers were affected by the excessive fees.

The issue of how much banks charge customer fees has come to light and under scrutiny as customers and regulators pressure banks to operate with more transparency.

HSBC Middle East posted an increase by 9.2% in its net fee income to $289.7 million during the first half of 2014, whereas profit attributable to parent company shareholders of the rose 4.4% to $467.4 million during the same time period, HSBC’s financials have showed.