KINGSTON, Jamaica — In keeping with its promise to provide its members with lower fees and better value, JN Bank has announced that it has discontinued some in-branch fees including, minimum balance and maintenance fees on deposits in savings accounts.

JN Bank’s Managing Director, Maureen Hayden-Cater, said the removal of the fees is part of the company’s strategy to make banking services more accessible to everyone and to improve the banking experience for Jamaicans.

“The intention is to make our services accessible so that in the long term, Jamaicans can be more confident about the services they receive from commercial banks; and the wealth they are accumulating when they save,” Hayden-Cater said.

She said the bank has also discontinued other fees for everyday in-branch transactions. JN Bank members no longer pay for in-branch deposits under J$1 million.

“In other words, everyday banking at JN is free,” she quipped.

In March, a Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC) survey revealed that JN Bank has significantly lower fees, or no costs attached to many of its products and services, which Hayden-Cater said positions JN Bank as an excellent commercial banking option for Jamaicans.

“We are reducing the encumbrances to banking; and, thereby, creating a financial experience in which members can save and access credit to achieve their personal goals and objectives,” she maintained.

“Banks are not institutions to be feared, instead we want our banking halls to be places where customers can be at ease and confident that their economic potential will be realised,” Hayden-Cater said.

JN Bank members also do not pay when they use any JN ATM across the island to do banking transactions Hayden Cater reminds members. And, several services, including bill payments are free of charge when using the online banking platform JN LIVE.

After 142 years as a building society, the former Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) converted to JN Bank on February 1 of this year. The bank, which emerged as one of the top three commercial banks in the country, made a covenant to its members upon its launch, promising to, among other things, treat members with dignity; deliver services consistent with expectations; as well as, to offer competitive interest rates, while charging fees lower than market rates.

JN Bank is a subsidiary of The Jamaica National Group, a mutual organisation, owned fully by the savers and borrowers of JN Bank.