|
Commercial banks attempting to collect ATM fees, again
The proposal to collect fees from ATM card holders has been rejected by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) for a third time. Many commercial banks have been trying to “dodge the law” by collecting other kinds of fees, including the “account management fee” and “invoice printing fee”.
Nguyen Thi Thanh Hang, Deputy Chair of the Card Association, said that 40 commercial banks asked for permission to collect fees on internal-network ATM transactions (Transactions at the bank’s ATMs) and raise fees on intra-network ATM transactions (The transactions made at ATMs of other banks) from 3300 dong to 5500 dong per transaction.
Bankers say they cannot make a profit with ATM cards
In the document, commercial banks proposed to collect ATM fees from August, while some banks planned to collect fees as of October.
However, SBV replied that it is not the right time to collect fees on internal-network transactions or raise fees on intra-network transactions.
Trinh Thuong Thuc, a senior executive of the HCM City Branch of Vietcombank, explained that banks need to collect ATM fees because they have not made a profit for many years with ATM cards. Meanwhile, ATM expenses have been rising. Banks must pay 10 million dong for an advantageous position and 3-5 million dong for other places. Banks must also pay other kinds of expenses to run ATMs. Repair and maintenance, for example, can total 500 million dong a year.
Banks cannot see much opportunity to use cardholders’ accounts as demand deposits, because people do not pay with cards. As soon as money flows into accounts, cardholders make withdrawals. As for the banks with thousands of ATMs, the sums cannot bring profit, may be as high as 500-600 billion dong.
The director of a card centre at a joint-stock bank asserted that SBV should allow banks to collect fees to offset their expenses. “The State Bank regularly asks commercial banks to report the number of ATMs installed and the number of cards issued. This means that the central bank wants commercial banks to expand their ATM networks together with card issuance,” he remarked.
According to this director, his bank also wants to expand its ATM network, but the plan has been rejected by the board of directors, because the bank has been losing money with card services.
After failed attempts to collect fees, many banks now plan to go around the State Bank. Vietcombank will collect fees on printing invoices for internal-network transactions, at 550 dong per transaction, by the end of 2010.
According to the bank, the fee will cut down expenses. To save money, card holders can see details of their transactions onscreen, without printing receipts.
Since March 31, Agribank has charged fees to print balance inquiries and transaction details (550 dong per transactions). Another bank will collect an “account management fee”, about 6000 dong a month, and 72,000 dong a year.
Commercial banks have also been very cautious in expanding their ATM networks. According to the Card Association, by June 30, 2010, the number of new ATMs had increased by only 800 over the end of 2009. The total number of ATMs now is 10,516.
vietnamnet, Tuoi tre
|
