Government moves to regulate bank charges
The Government is to introduce a new financial services consumer protection agency to protect commercial bank customers from exorbitant bank fees.
Minister of Finance and Public Service Audley Shaw told the House of Representatives yesterday that the banks currently hold $45 billion in dormant accounts, which are subject to regular bank charges.
Shaw said that the Government is concerned particularly about the charges on dormant accounts.
The issue was raised in Parliament recently after Opposition MP for St Catherine Southern, Fitz Jackson, in a Private Member’s Bill seeking government regulation of the fees and charges.
Shaw said that in the meantime the Government will depend on the banks responding to the current Bank of Jamaica Code of Conduct.
A story in the Caribbean Business Report last week reported on Scotiabank facing an outcry over some of its fees, including a charge of $375 for changing $5,000 notes. An earlier online story was read by more than 120,000 people, with a great deal of coverage in social media.
Ealier this week the bank issued a news release to say that there is a cash-for-cash transaction fee generally applied to customers with relatively large amounts of cash or coins that need to be changed. It said that fee, as well as all others, is presently under review.
