Guyanese commercial banks are protesting a proposal by the Bank of Guyana (BOG) for service fees to be the same across the board. Reports by the Starbroek newspaper indicate that the BOG has begun industry consultations on service fees, including a standard GUY$50 fee for automated teller machine (ATM) withdrawals of up to Guy$100,000 and a GUY$2,500 cap on late fees for loan repayments.

According to the news organisation, the banks have responded to say that fees in the country are a fraction of charges by other banks regionally, also noting that standardisation would militate against competition or the standard by which consumers choose between one bank and another.

The commercial banks in Guyana are Citizens Bank Inc, Demerara Bank Limited (DBL), Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (BTI), Republic Bank Limited (RBL), Bank of Nova Scotia, and Bank of Baroda.

Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley has indicated that her Government could bring legislation against bank fees.

In Jamaica the battle for regulated banking fees has been fought and apparently lost. A local lobby, spearheaded by St Catherine Southern Member of Parliament Fitz Jackson, was defeated after being presented in Parliament. Introduced in 2013, the resolution on banking fees was voted on in the House of Representatives in 2018 and deep-sixed after a vote along party lines.

In a recent Jamaica Observer commentary, Jackson said that, in 2020 banks made over $50 billion from depositors accounts.

He said Government was being reluctant to pass the Bill that was tabled because it was more interested “to secure and protect that risk-free earning of the bank at the expense of ordinary Jamaicans”.

Jackson noted that the Bill he had proposed does not interfere with any fee that is involved with any financial instrument being negotiated with the bank, and only “speaks to deductions, charges being made against account holders for action in their own accounts — the fees for making deposits, making withdrawals, making inquiries, encashing cheques, dormancy fees, etc”.

The commercial banks in Jamaica are the National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited, Bank of Nova Scotia, JMMB Bank, First Global Bank, FirstCaribbean International Bank Limited, Citibank NA, JN Bank Limited, and Sagicor Bank Jamaica Limited.

Consumer protection legislation passed in Jamaica requires local banks to give adequate notice of changes in fees.

The 2014 Banking Services Act contains provisions in section 132 (4) (b) that stipulate that the supervisor — who under the Act is the governor of the Bank of Jamaica — may issue a code of conduct on consumer-related matters.

On October 21, 2016 The Banking Services (Deposit Taking Institutions) (Customer Related Matters) Code of Conduct came into effect.

The code requires reasonable notice of fees and charges; customer access to information at a reasonable cost; interest rates to be expressed as annual rates, calculated in a standard manner across the industry; and imposed an obligation to keep the language in contracts with customers simple and clear and that key terms are brought to the customer’s attention. It also requires licensees to establish effective methods to deal with customer complaints.

The failure of a licensee to comply with those directions will constitute an offence, but would not invalidate any transaction.