Bank to share charge if client use different ATM

Bangladesh Bank has backed away from an earlier decision that it had taken at the urging of the CEOs to pass the entire inter-bank ATM usage burden on the client.

It has now directed that Tk 15 should be charged per transaction from the clients while bank should pay the remaining Tk 5, if the ATM of another bank is used.

The Payment System Division of the Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday issued a circular to this effect to the CEOs of all the banks.

A bank charges processing fee of Tk 20 per transaction if a client of another bank uses its ATM. Until now, the charge was equally borne by the client and his bank.

Earlier, on Dec 15, it was decided that the client would be required to pay the entire processing fee of Tk 20 after bank CEOs made a strong case for it.

The issue was also reported by bdnews24.com.

A central bank source revealed that the Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank Nazneen Sultana had objected to the demand. The Payment System Department of the central bank, too, had reservations about the proposal of the CEOs.

Governor Atiur Rahman issued the circular after fixing the new rate to be shared between clients and the banks.

On the other hand, if the client of a bank wants to know his balance status or takes a mini statement using the ATM of another bank, the user’s bank will be required to pay Tk 5 including VAT to the service-providing bank.

However, the circular said, if they wanted, the banks can charge their clients.

To encourage the use of cards and reduce the risky practice of carrying cash, Bangladesh Bank introduced the National Payment Switch (NPS) with three other banks on Dec 27, 2012.

At present, there are 31 banks within the NPS purview. On an average, 5000 transactions amounting to about Tk 35 million are carried out per day in the ATM booths of these banks.

According to Bangladesh Bank data, in the month of December, the clients of these 31 banks had withdrawn Tk 1.04 billion through NPS.