Bajan PocketbooksEased, Bank Charges Checked
Pocket books of Barbadians are now seeingsome relief as the central bank there cracked down on the island'sseven retail banks that have been exacting charges for almostevery transaction.
For just over two years there were a numberof complaints by citizens, community organizations, and tradeunions about a gradually increasing number of service chargesmeted out by banks
Now, some months after Governor of the CentralBank, Dr Marion Williams, publicly spoke of her concern on thepractice, that institution has reportedly slammed down, prohibitinga number of these fees which it deemed unreasonable.
In a release the central bank said: "Nocharges should apply for the encashment of cheques written onother banks; a maximum charge of 1 per cent to be applied wherethe value of coins exceeds $50; no charges should apply for thirdparty withdrawals in the case of pensioners; the charge for notificationof dormant accounts should not exceed $10 per annum; a bank mayapply reasonable charges for withdrawals either at the ATM, orover the counter, but such charges should not apply to both services;and the minimum balance on which interest is to be paid shouldnot exceed $300".
The monetary authority said that in thecase of returned cheques, the central bank believes it is unreasonableto apply charges to the payee.
The release said there were still some outstanding matters tobe worked on to ensure that bank charges remained reasonable asrequired by law.
Prior to the central bank's interventionit held a number of meetings with the commercial banks and requestedthem to submit reasons for their charges. One problem some ofthem reported was the need to keep up with technological changeswhich they needed to have reflected in service to customers.