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Analysts call for fee on bank dollar sales
Though DongA Bank and Eximbank have announced they will sell foreign exchange without a fee to people going abroad to study or for treatment, analysts said a fee mechanism is needed to balance supply and demand.
However, many feel the maximum proposed charge of around 2 percent is too high.
On Thursday, when it started the sale, DongA Bank sold around $16,400 at the official rate of VND20,895 a dollar and other foreign currencies.
Eximbank, which began the sale on the same day, said the individual quota is $300 for a week-long trip, $600 for trips lasting longer than a week, and $1,000 for patients going for treatment lasting more than a week.
For Vietnamese students abroad, the annual ceiling is $7,000.
Though the bank is ready to sell foreign currencies, it encouraged customers to use cards abroad instead of cash for safety, Dinh Thi Thu Thao, Deputy General Director of the bank, said, adding the bank pays around $500,000 a month for card payments abroad.
But other banks said they must be allowed to collect a charge since they have to spend on insurance and other fees to buy the currencies.
A bank head told Tuoi Tre that the fee will enable banks to become official moneychangers, thus putting the black market out of business.
Tran Phuong Binh, General Director of DongA Bank, said since the fee for making cash withdrawals using a credit card is 2.5-4 percent, the fee for selling foreign currencies should be 2 percent.
But analysts said since the 2-percent fee will increases the dollar price to VND21,313, a 1-percent fee or a flexible mechanism will be more appropriate.
Tran Hoang Ngan, a member of the National Advisory Council for Financial and Monetary Policies, told Tuoi Tre that the central bank should cap the fee and allow banks to fix it based on supply and demand.
Tran Du Lich, another member of the council, said Vietnam should follow other countries and impose a large gap between the buying and selling rates so that people will only buy what they want.
Allowing banks to charge the fee will create healthy competition, he added.
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