Shaw welcomes removal of banking fees on dormant accounts
SCOTIABANK announced yesterday that fees currently charged on inactive or dormant accounts with the bank would be suspended immediately.
The bank said the move forms part of its ongoing review of fees, as it seeks to identify the best options to effectively manage costs, while ensuring that it continues to efficiently meet the changing needs of its customers.
“There is a cost to managing dormant accounts. However, we are working assiduously to identify new solutions for managing these costs, as well as the overall processes surrounding the treatment of dormant accounts,” said Deputy CEO of the Scotia Group David Noel.
The bank, he said, would continue to invest in technology and alternatives to enhance the services offered to its customers.
Minister of Finance and the Public Service Audley Shaw told the House of Representatives on Wednesday, as he closed the 2017/18 budget debate, that he was encouraged by the fact that some commercial banks have already started removing fees on dormant accounts.
“I am encouraged by NCB’s, First Global’s and First Caribbean’s decision to remove fees on dormant accounts, and I expect that others will also follow,” Shaw said.
He added that, based on further discussions with the banks, he was also pleased to learn that the shift to electronic transactions which, for the most part is free, was moving quickly, with 95 per cent of all NCB transactions and 87 per cent of all Scotiabank transactions now being done electronically.
“The truth is, more comprehensive use of electronic means of conducting financial transactions is imperative if we are to increase economic growth. Higher growth means higher volumes of financial transactions,” Shaw said.
The minister, at the start of the budget debate on March 9, said that the Government would introduce a new financial services consumer protection agency to protect commercial bank customers from exorbitant bank fees.
Shaw said that his understanding was that the banks currently hold $45 billion in dormant accounts, which are subject to regular bank charges. He said that the Government was concerned, particularly about the charges on dormant accounts.
The issue was raised in parliament recently after Member of Parliament for St Catherine South, Fitz Jackson, in a Private Member’s Bill, sought Government regulation of the fees and charges by banks.
Shaw said that in the meantime the Government would depend on the banks responding to the current Bank of Jamaica Code of Conduct.
— Balford Henry
