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Protest Memorandum Against Bank Negara’s Inaction And Indifference Towards The Arbitrary And Excessive Bank Service Charges And Surcharges By Commercial Banks At The Expense Of Consumers And At Variance With Social Corporate Responsibility
 

Protest Memorandum Against Bank Negara
by Lim Guan Eng

(Kuala Lumpur,  Thursday):

YBhgia Tan Sri Dato' Sri Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz,
The Governor,
Bank Negara Malaysia,
Jalan Dato’ Onn,
50480 Kuala Lumpur.                                                                                              

Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Dato’,

Protest Memorandum Against Bank Negara’s Inaction And Indifference Towards The Arbitrary And Excessive Bank Service Charges And Surcharges By Commercial Banks At The Expense Of Consumers And At Variance With Social Corporate Responsibility

We hereby submit a protest memorandum against Bank Negara’s inaction and indifference towards the arbitrary and excessive bank service charges and surcharges imposed by commercial banks enabling banks to reap additional profits at the expense of the consumer. Bank Negara must proactively reverse these charges and surcharges to uphold the government’s oft-repeated objective of social corporate responsibility. 

Oftentimes these surcharges and charges are imposed by fiat and at times without any prior notice given to the bank customers. Such arrogance is not just offensive but unfair  to the consumers who lose out in increased financial costs. Amongst the many grouses from consumers we have received from consumers over the past month are:

  • Maybank’s decision to impose a subscription fee for its online banking services where users of Maybank2u.com which was launched free on June 2000 is now required to pay a yearly fee of RM 12; online banking request for account statement at RM 10 plus RM1 per page for current account statements; 50 cents per withdrawal at ATM machines after the fourth withdrawal within a month; 50 cents per transaction for bill payments at ATMs; and RM 12 per annum for an unlimited number of bills at other channels;

  • Banks requiring service charge for deposits such as Southern Bank’s service charge of RM2 for deposit of every additional 100 pieces of currency notes of any denomination after the first 300 pieces, ie if 500 RM 1 currency notes requires a service charge of RM 4;

  • Banks charging RM 20 on Savings or Current Accounts closed within 6 months;

  • Banks charging RM 5 on all inter-branch personal cheque encashment where it is silly to be charged for taking out our own money;

  • Excessive charges on overdrawn accounts by banks especially Southern Bank charging RM 200 for returned cheques due to insufficient funds and another RM 200 for represented cheques(charged together with returned cheques) and RM 50 for non-collection of cheque books after 30 days;

  • Some banks charge of RM 60 for one telephone call to top up your overdrawn current account   Apart from penalty interest late administration fee of RM50 & RM100 at 15 & 45 days past due date respectively;

  • Certain banks charging service charges for current account below certain balances where one bank is charging RM 10 per month for personal accounts with less than RM 1,000 average daily balances ie an inactive RM 500 current account would be exhausted in 4 years.

The Chairman of the Association of Banks in Malaysia(ABM) Dr Rozali Mohamed Ali had said  that ABM would not advise banks on pricing matters as it is their prerogative. Such an attitude is contrary to the government’s oft-repeated call for corporate social responsibility leaving the consumers no choice but to rely on Bank Negara to uphold fairplay and protect consumer interests.  

In Bank Negara’s website, the Bank proudly states that it is guided by the principle that it should act only in the economic interest of the nation and without regard to profit as a primary consideration. Therefore Bank Negara has a primary duty to immediately act in the economic interest of ordinary Malaysians and not be a mere bystander and watch banks  pad their profits at the expense of consumers.  

Lest we forget, commercial banks’ pre-tax profit increased from RM 2.5 billion in 2001, RM 6.4 billion in 2002 and RM 6.9 billion in 2003. For the third quarter 2004, the profitability of the banking system remained favourable with RM 2.8 billion pre-tax profit, an increase of 17% compared to the RM 2.4 billion in the corresponding quarter last year. As the banks can afford to do so, Bank Negara must direct banks to cease burdening their clients before Malaysians lose faith in the banking institution. 

Bank Negara should shed its indifference and disregard of the complaints and dissatisfaction of the consumers by removing these excessive charges as ordinary Malaysians should be your primary concern and not the additional profit-making capability of banks. An early reply is appreciated.

 

(9/12/2004)


* Lim Guan Eng, DAP Secretary General