Banks’ account maintenance fees slashed

The central bank yesterday cut account maintenance fees imposed by banks with a view to encouraging small savers to park their deposits in the banking sector.

From now on, clients will not have to pay any account maintenance fee for their deposits of up to Tk 10,000 in savings account from the previous charge-free ceiling of Tk 5,000.

Savers will have to pay Tk 100 as fee for their savings deposits of over Tk 10,000 to Tk 25,000, according to a central bank notice sent out to all banks.

Clients earlier had to pay the same charge for their deposit amounts ranging from Tk 5,000 to Tk 25,000.

Banks impose the charges on a half-yearly basis.

The latest instruction will also help banks strengthen their deposit base, the BB circular said. 

Clients earlier counted Tk 300 as savings account maintenance fee if the deposit of a client surpassed Tk 25,000.

The latest instruction will also give relief to clients from the existing high charges as this time it has also lessened the fees for the deposits that will exceed the amount of Tk 25,000.

Banks will be allowed to impose a charge of Tk 200 for deposits of over Tk 25,000 to Tk 200,000.

Clients will have to pay Tk 250 as account maintenance fee for deposits of over Tk 200,000 to Tk 1,000,000.

Lenders will be allowed to impose a maximum charge of Tk 300, if the deposit of a client crosses Tk 1,000,000. The central bank has also brought down the maintenance fee for current accounts as clients will have to pay Tk 300 for such accounts against the previous charge of Tk 500.

The central bank asked banks to bring the changes into effect immediately. A senior official of a commercial bank said profits of commercial banks might decline for the time being but it would help banks mitigate their liquidity crunch.

People will also feel encouraged to keep their funds in the banking sector, which will widen banks’ loan disbursement capacity, he said. This will leave a positive impact on the private sector, he added.