Withdrawal fee hikes reports unfounded: Mangudya Dr John Mangudya
Dr John Mangudya

Dr John Mangudya

Oliver Kazunga Senior Business Reporter
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has allayed fears of bank cash withdrawal fee increases saying reports that ATM charges would go up starting tomorrow were misleading.RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya yesterday said last week’s reports by some sections of the private media on bank charges increases were unfounded.

The private media had claimed the banking sector had resolved to increase cash withdrawal charges under the Zimswitch platform by 50 percent from the current $2 starting tomorrow.

The report had quoted a senior executive with the Zimswitch platform saying the purported withdrawal fee increase was a collective industrial position endorsed by the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ).

However, Dr Mangudya said the central bank had not approved any increase of cash withdrawal fees on ATMs.

“As the central bank we’re not aware of such a development and we haven’t approved anything of that sort,” he told Business Chronicle.

“There’s a committee that I chair involving banks, the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe and the Reserve Bank.  With regards to that matter (ATM withdrawal fees), we haven’t heard about it and we’re not aware of it during our   meetings.”

Dr Mangudya said any move to increase charges was subject to discussion between the central bank and concerned parties.

“As the monetary authorities, we cannot approve something that we haven’t discussed,” he said.

The reports had claimed that the increase was necessitated by the high cost of servicing the ATM system.

BAZ chief executive officer Sij Biyam could not be reached for comment.

In the 2014 monetary policy statement last month, Dr Mangudya warned banks against unilateral fees and other charges increase.

“Fees and other charges levied by financial institutions should be reasonable, having regard to the actual costs incurred by financial institutions in providing products and services to consumers,” he said.

“The Reserve Bank urges banking institutions to continuously re-examine their business models, interrogate their cost structures and improve on efficiency.”

Despite efforts by banks to increase their capital positions in a constrained economy, the sector has generally remained profitable.

As at June 30, 2014, the banking industry had an aggregate net profit of $13.84 million up from $4.90 million during the same period last year.

A total of 12 banks recorded profits for the period ended June 30, 2014.

The losses recorded by the few banking institutions were attributed to high levels of non-performing loans, lack of critical mass in terms of revenue to cover high operating expenses and deliberate strategy by some banks to clean up bad loan books through provisioning.

 

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