VN banks want to raise ATM fees
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Vietnamese banks want to raise fees on per inter-bank ATM transaction from 3,300 dong (Bt5) to 5,500 in order to make up for major bank losses incurred by sharing card services with small banks.
The State Bank of Vietnam has given the green light to banks to charge fees on all internal ATM transactions beginning in 2013.
However, many major banks also want the central bank to increase fees on inter-bank ATM transactions.
The head of a major bank’s transaction office in Ho Chi Minh City, who declined to be named, said it was necessary to increase fees on inter-bank ATM transactions because the costs for building and operating facilities for ATMs reached hundreds of millions of dong. Expenses include the purchase of ATMs, installations and rental of space.
ATM owners also have to pay millions of dong to operate the machines per month, including payments for space rental, security fees and electricity charges.
“This is the reason why many small banks do not have enough money to build many ATMs, although they have issued so many cards. Consequently, cardholders of small banks have to use ATMs of major banks to carry out their transactions,” he told Tuoi Tre newspaper.
