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Gareth Bird is an independent financial adviser specialist with Investec Bank.

Competition for retail banking clients has never been fiercer - providers are continually offering very attractive products and services to appeal to investors.

However, competition among banks is not just the responsibility of the government and a function of the market. If investors spend a little more time and effort researching the offers available, they will certainly find some excellent offerings that could make a big difference to their bank balances.

However, they have to get proactive first.

In the United States, the activists behind the Bank Transfer Day movement claim more than 650,000 Americans have moved their accounts from the major banks to credit unions since the campaign began in early November.

The campaign, best described as a consumer movement spin-off from the more spectacular Occupy Wall Street protests, started - as these things do - on Facebook and went viral after a Los Angeles woman became incensed at being charged $2 to call a bank's customer service centre with a query about her debit card.

Australian consumers are rarely as militant or organised as those in the US, but there is something of a lesson here for Australian consumers, even if it could be heeded in a more sophisticated way.

Customer churn is not a common phenomenon in Australian banking. Most people stay with their bank longer than most personal relationships.

There are, however, cogent reasons to shop around and think about changing, even though doing so can often be a bureaucratic nightmare. The reality is consumers would be well advised to get proactive and take a good look at all their bank accounts and banking relationships, particularly in these volatile times, as they look for service and value.

This goes well beyond shopping around for the best interest rate or serial credit card acquisition. It also goes beyond the class action joined by more than 30,000 Australian and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) customers, angry at what they say are unfair penalty fees.

With sharemarkets underperforming and superannuation balances under pressure, the focus is right back on the savings portion of investment portfolios. People are understandably still very defensive about their investments, and as a result, we have seen a big increase in the volumes of money in term deposits and cash management accounts.

But rather than just putting the funds away into a term deposit with your regular provider, it pays to do some real homework and use the investment tools that are out there - often readily available online - to maximise the returns on offer and to start to make up some ground.

Ask some questions about the term deposit you are in. Does it revert to a lower rate once the term is done? What are the charges if you decide to take your money out before the term is done? What does the bank do if you miss the notification deadline? Think about whether that term deposit offers the liquidity you want and need.