Amid the row between customers and commercial banks on the increase in fees amid the slow economic recovery and inflationary environment, JMMB Group Limited has welcomed the dialogue on fees charged by deposit-taking institutions (DTI) to transact services with their clients.

In a release on Monday, JMMB posited its stance on fairness and its guiding principles founded on love and standing in the best interest of all. This included listing four main principles around fees which include no “nuisance” fees, fees for cost recovery, fees for value-added services and waiving fees when JMMB falls short of its service delivery.

With respect to its no “nuisance” fees, JMMB outlined that it doesn’t charge people a fee to deposit or withdraw funds from their bank accounts in a JMMB Bank branch or apply an ATM fee for persons to withdraw funds. It further added that it has never charged a dormant account fee which was a source of controversy in March 2017 which saw the larger market players suspend the charge.

Though it has no control over fees charged by other financial institutions on certain services like wire transfers which are passed onto the customer, it currently absorbs the fees charged by other Visa-enabled ATMs when customers use their JMMB Visa debit cards at those locations. This is in light of JMMB’s limited number of ATMs across the island which recently received an upgrade.

The value-added services component charged to clients really relate to who utilise the portfolio management solutions offered by its investment arms. This can range from a management fee charged on the product portfolio like a unit trust or a management fee charged on the funds invested by a client.

With a focus on committing itself to customers, the JMMB Group waived certain fees in October 2020 when its Moneyline platform was down for longer than planned. This also included reimbursing clients who would have been impacted from being late to pay a third party from the disruption.

JMMB Bank is the latest commercial bank to join the sector after converting from a merchant bank in August 2017. Apart from a cash infusion of $2.7 billion over the last three years by its parent company, JMMB Bank has grown its balance sheet from $45.96 billion in March 2018 to $116.64 billion at the end of March 2021. JMMB Bank earned $401.28 million in fee income for its 2021 financial year and boasted a loan portfolio of $69.05 billion.

“Every year, JMMB actively reviews our fees, within the context of both our operations and the needs of our clients. Coming out of that annual review, fees are then removed, adjusted or new fees added, all done in alignment with the guiding principle of fairness in how fees are set, our core value of love and having our clients’ best interest at heart. This is who we are as an organisation, and we will not change,” JMMB Group closed.

— David Rose