It can be frustrating when these calls interrupt you in a meeting, or when I am on an overseas assignment. There are also roaming charges. Some calls do not reflect any number on my caller ID display, as they are dialled on a 'masked number' line, which obliges me to take the call.

Once, when I politely told a telemarketer I really had to hang up as I was in a meeting, she told me to 'shut up' - and hung up.

Can the banks find a way to refrain from pestering customers who tell them they don't want to be hassled?

Edwin Sam Hoe Ming