Banks ordered to limit ATM fees
Banks ordered to limit ATM fees
Account holders complained, and the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) listened.
The central bank has ordered financial institutions to stop charging their customers for withdrawing money from ATMs. It also instructed banks to keep other fees constant for 2012 and publish fee tables at ATMs.
The directive followed complaints that customers had to pay to withdraw money from their own banks’ machines. Typically, cardholders only had to pay for interbank transactions, such as using ATMs of banks where they didn’t have accounts.
Other clients protested that some banks had doubled the cost, to VND3,300, to check balances, transfer funds, or print statements, sometimes without notice. Other costs have gone up, too.
This month, for instance, Techcombank started charging VND5,940 for interbank transactions, up from VND3,300.
SBV reminded local banks to adhere strictly to its regulations and those of the Vietnam Bank Card Association (VBCA).
The central bank said also that it is working with the association to develop a reasonable roadmap to collect ATM fees, which will be publicly announced to cardholders.
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