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This is an excellent idea from O2 which I hope others will emulate. Notifying travel plans to card issuers is a tiresome task, particularly as advice systems are often poorly built - for example NatWest debit cardholders can't be in two countries on the same day. I wonder also if issuers may have their guard too high. If it's card present with PIN authorisation for a £100 transaction at a restaurant in Italy what's the chance it's fraud? 

Richard makes some compelling points, but one area that requires attention is the recovery of misdirected payments. There have been several well publicised horror stories where funds have been sent to the wrong account by error or as the result of fraud. Banks seem slow to act in these cases and lack the legal framework to recover funds even when the error is clear. This undermines the scheme's utility, certainly requires an industry code of practice and perhaps enabling legislation.

It's compelling to believe that culling back office staff can reduce costs without impacting service. It's all too easy, however, to lose the expertise that makes things work. Banks which have made this error find it difficult to effect changes and even harder to recover when things go wrong. Persistent failures, for example in payment services, soon create customer dissatisfaction and loss of business. Deutsche must ensure this move doesn't damage its operational capability and thus its reputation.

Spot on, Chris. Adding taxes simply increases cost and stops activity. We don't need more taxes, just less Government.