THE Economy and Production Committee of the House of Representatives is seeking submissions from members of the public on their views on bank fees and charges.

 The deadline for submissions is this Friday. The committee is currently considering a motion from one of its members, Fitz Jackson (South St Catherine), regarding fees and charges imposed by commercial banks and other financial institutions in Jamaica since January, 2013.

 The committee, chaired by Opposition member of Parliament Karl Samuda, is asking the public to submit their views on the issue as well as the interim report from the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ on ‘fees and charges of deposit-taking institutions’.

 According to the report, which was tabled in Parliament recently, all commercial banks reported instances of both increases and decreases in their respective schedules of fees since the start of 2013 and up to 31st October 2013.

 Increases in existing fees ranged from one per cent to a high of 72 per cent ($145.63 to $250.00) reported by Citibank NA (CBNA) for transfer between accounts for corporate customers, followed by a 68 per cent increase ($297.45 to $500) reported by the Royal Bank Jamaica Limited for minimum monthly service charge for corporate current accounts.

 Movements in exchange rate also served to impact changes in the Jamaica dollar value of services quoted in United States dollars, for example, services related to the negotiation of foreign cheques, some credit card and e-banking services.

 Building societies and licensees under the Financial Institutions Act (FIA) also reflected changes in fees, ranging between minus 100 per cent and 100 per cent.

 In addition, building societies introduced six new fees between January and October 2013. There were no new fees introduced by FIA licensees.

 The Jamaica Bankers Association (JBA) says that the banks usually charge fees in order to recover some of the operational costs associated with providing their services, which include staff, location, security, technology and back-office processing.

 The JBA says that fees are also used by banks to discourage customers from using services which are relatively more expensive for the bank to provide than alternatives available.

 “A common perception in the market is that, institutions have increased fees to compensate for a loss in revenue, due to the reduction in interest rates caused by the Jamaica Debt Exchange Programme (JDX).

 A careful look at the main areas of growth, however, shows that income from fees continues to be an insignificant portion of the overall revenue of most financial institutions,” the JBA insists.

 The committee has been charged with reviewing and reporting to the House on Jackson’s motion on the controversial fees.

 The motion has asked the House to require BOJ to submit to the committee, the report on fees charged by financial institutions, including credit unions, as at October 31, 2013.

 It also asked that the committee meet to commence an evaluation of that report and make recommendations on steps to regulate the fees. The motion was passed last November.

 Individuals who submit their views may be required to appear before the committee, at short notice, to explain their submission. Views may be submitted to the clerk to the Houses of Parliament,Gordon House, in downtown Kingston, or e-mailed to clerk@japarliament.gov.jm.