AS various commercial banks revise their fee schedule, the Jamaica Observer has assembled the fees charged by each alongside their earnings from fees charged to clients.

Commercial banks are generally defined by the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) as deposit-taking institutions which can offer chequing/current account services while merchant banks cannot offer accounts that are repayable on demand or under 14 days’ notice by cheque, draft or order drawn on the merchant bank. There are currently eight licensed commercial banks in Jamaica with JMMB Bank being the latest to join the space after transitioning from being a merchant bank in August 2017 and being issued a commercial banking licence by the BOJ.

The fees and commissions earned by the different commercial banks include:

National Commercial Bank Jamaica (NCBJ) – $18.36 billion earned for its financial year (FY) ending September 30, 2021. Total assets of $756.54 billion as at September 2021.

Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica Limited (BNS) — $13.32 billion earned for its FY ending October 31, 2021. Total assets of $478.11 billion as at September 2021.

Jamaica National Bank Limited (JN Bank) — $1.34 billion earned for its FY ending March 31, 2021. Total assets of $230.51 million as at September 2021.

Sagicor Bank Jamaica Limited (SBJ) – $3.93 billion earned for its FY ending December 31, 2020. Total assets of $175.56 billion as at September 2021.

FirstCaribbean International (Jamaica) Limited (FCIB) — $925.93 million for its FY ending October 31, 2021. Total assets of $142.78 billion as at October 2021.

JMMB Bank (Jamaica) Limited (JMMB) — $401.28 million for its FY ending March 31, 2021. Total assets of $137.19 billion as at September 2021.

First Global Bank Limited (FGB) – $1.07 billion for its FY ending December 31, 2020. Total assets of $72.09 billion as at September 2021.

The accounts listed with this article are either chequing or saving accounts that carry fewer fees or have more benefits attached to it for the retail customer. Each bank charges fees on some items or gives waivers to a point on some services.

ACH (automated clearing house) — JN Bank charges the highest for ACH transfers done online at $17.77 per transaction while BNS, FCIB and JMMB don’t charge a fee for this transfer.

RTGS (real time gross settlement) — FGB charged the highest fee of $250 for RTGS transfers done online while there was no fee listed for RTGS transfers done online for BNS.

POS (point of sale) transaction with own bank device — SBJ charged the highest transaction fee of $16.28 for POS transactions done with its own proprietary device while JN Bank, FCIB and FGB had no charges associated with their debit cards.

POS transaction with another bank’s device — SBJ charged the highest transaction fee of $17.77 to conduct a POS transaction with another bank’s POS machine while FCIB, JMMB and FGB charged no fees to clients using their debit cards.

ATM (automated teller machine) withdrawal with bank’s ATM network — NCBJ, BNS and FGB all charge a $25 withdrawal fee when done at an ATM in their own bank’s network. The other bank’s don’t charge fees based on the account listed except for NCBJ which offers four free transactions before the $25 charge is applied.

ATM withdrawal with other bank’s ATM — NCBJ, BNS and FGB all charge a $60 withdrawal fee when carried out an ATM that isn’t attached to the issuing bank associated with the debit card. The other banks don’t charge fees with their debit cards at other ATM’s.

In branch withdrawal — JN Bank charged the highest fee of $1,000 to withdraw funds in branch once it is below $100,000 or $200 once above $100,000. SBJ and JMMB don’t charge fees based on the fee schedule review.

In branch deposit — JN Bank charged the highest fee of $1,000 to deposit funds in branch while deposits done via ATM’s are free.

Cheque encashment associated with bank in branch — BNS charges the highest fee of $427.02 to encash a BNS cheque at a branch. JN, SBJ and JMMB don’t charge fees with cheque encashments done in branch.

Other bank cheque encashment in branch – BNS charges the highest fee of $427.02 to encash a non-BNS cheque in branch. FCIB charged the lowest fee of $148.07 to encash a non–FCIB cheque in branch.