Bank Negara move lauded

Saturday December 11, 2004

BY FLORENCE A. SAMY

PETALING JAYA: Bank account holders and various groups welcomed the news that Bank Negara would introduce new guidelines requiring banking institutions to offer basic services at minimal cost.

Many expressed unhappiness over the imposition of excessive and sometimes unnecessary service charges by banks.

They felt that banks should instead focus on improving their services and become more customer-friendly.

Document controller Sato Fong, who travels across several states to collect payments, cited an incident where a local bank wanted to charge him RM10 for every RM1,000 when he wanted to make a RM10,000 deposit into his account here from a Terengganu branch.

ôI was so angry that I decided to bring back the money and deposit it in KL.

ôIt's good that Bank Negara wants to introduce the guidelines as they should not let these banks do whatever they want,ö he said here yesterday.

In a statement on Thursday, Bank Negara said the new guidelines would be introduced in February, and would prevent commercial banks from imposing fees and service charges at their whims and fancies.

The guidelines would also provide avenues for consumers to seek redress through complaint units.

System analyst V. Chandrakala, 33, said banks should not charge customers fees for using online banking services.

ôThis online service was free when it was introduced in 2000 but now they are charging customers RM12 per year. That's a lot of money, considering that we are accessing the services on our own without help from bank officials,ö she said.

Hooi Wai Wai, 25, said the national bank should standardise the various service charges imposed by banks.

ôSome have very high charges such as 50 sen per withdrawal at ATM machines after the fourth withdrawal, while others charge for online or inter-bank services,ö she said.

Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations secretary-general Muhammad Sha'ani Abdullah called on the Government to prevent banks from imposing service charges for online transactions.

Atlas Edible Ice (Penang) Sdn Bhd director Frederick Ng said banks should stop practices like imposing a RM2 surcharge for every 100 notes once a customer exceeds 500 notes for a deposit.

ôHow can they impose charges on the deposits? These notes are all legal tender,ö he said.

Accountancy student Ida Othman, 21, however, said she did not mind paying a bit more for online services than be bogged down by the inconvenience of queuing up at a bank.

The Association of Banks Malaysia chairman Dr Rozali Mohd Ali could not be reached for comments.