Team Herald
PANJIM: The decision by banks in the country to reduce the number of free withdrawals from third party ATM’s may be not happen as early as is generally thought.
The decision will have to be made by several banks in the country. Given the competitive nature of the business it would not be surprising if some banks prefer to watch the moves of other banks before announcing their decision.
Anand B Bhat, Branch Head at the Karur Vysya Bank felt all the banks would have to be on the same page on this matter. Bhat said he as a branch head had not received any information from headquarters. He felt that banks would decide perhaps how many free ATM withdrawals would be allowed given that there was a financial angle to that decision. Each and every bank was paying a fee for every transaction conducted in another bank by its customers. Rs 20 for each transaction added up to a substantial fee which was paid by headquarters.
This amount he felt had to be reduced since at times it had an effect on the bottom line especially if it was a small bank like many found in Goa many of whom had oustandings in the mining sector.
The corporate communication manager of a private bank based in Mumbai said he was aware of the development but he had not received any internal note to that effect. The manager who did not want to be identified since the bank had not decided its future course of action on the matter felt that such a move was inevitable given the large sums being paid by banks to other banks for these transactions.
He refused to provide details as to how much was being paid by banks for such transactions. He felt a charge of Rs 15 per transaction would help ease the burden.
