AMEX do you mean currency or current?
If currency then charges are not particularly unusual and with most banks here they are transactional to boot. Not something have much of at home but it depends on what you are using the account for I suppose.
colo18 I think there is another thread recently where we were all giving HSBC a well justified write up. NOT!!!
But on there we a fair few views of current sand pit dwellers were being aired.