|
ATM fee charges deemed illegal
Bank card issuers will be punished if they collect fees for ATM internal-network transactions without approval from the State Bank of Viet Nam's Governor Nguyen Van Giau, said Ho Huu Hanh from the central bank's HCM City branch.
Money made from these illegal fee charges will be appropriated for the State budget.
The statement was given out after Agribank started charging for its internal-network transactions last Wednesday. Agribank has issued more than five million bank cards.
The central bank has not replied to proposals from 40 banks that wish to charge customers for their account statements.
These banks have also want to increase the fees for customers using other banks' ATMs from VND3,300 ($0.17) to VND5,500 (US$0.28) per transaction.
These banks' efforts aim to reduce ATM's maintenance costs after the central bank rejected a previous request to charge customers for the use of the machines. The central bank has been petitioned three times since 2008 to green light ATM charges .
The annual maintenance cost for a machine is VND500 million ($26,300).
Banks with thousands of ATMs manage more than VND500 billion ($26 million) in cash, but the funds are not allowed to collect interest, which could be used to pay for the machine's maintenance.
There were 10,516 ATMs in the country by the end of June, according to the Viet Nam Bank Card Association.
To be updated.
vietnamnews
|
