Digging into FNB price changes

PREMIER CLIENTS TO PAY MORE; ELECTRICITY, DSTV, AIRTIME AND LOTTO COSTS UP

‘End goal’s not cash, rather the card swipe’

FNB has increased the monthly account fee on its popular Premier bundle for the first time since 2014. From July 1, the cheque account and credit card will cost R209, from R199 previously.

Fees for the Private Clients and Private Wealth bundled accounts increased by 5% and 11% respectively.

On its middle market Gold account, monthly account fees remain at R105, after last year’s increase – the first in three years.

Fees on the mass market Easy Bundle jump 9% after the 8% increase 12 months ago, while the base fee on the entry-level Easy account is up 50c to R5.75. It has held fees steady on the FNB youth account which it launched last year.

FNB consumer core banking chief executive Ryan Prozesky asserts that the banker is the only one that absorbed the value-added tax (VAT) increase in April, so any increases are not as steep as they appear and that those fees which remain the same are actually cheaper.

Cash-related fees continue to increase, although bundled-accounts customers get free cash withdrawals up to R9 000 per month on Premier bundle; R7 000 on Premier unlimited; R5 000 on Gold accounts; and R3 000 on the Easy bundle.

While it has seen some success in driving customers to use cash@ till instead of ATMs, use of the retail channel is not yet at the level FNB wants.

But the end goal, says Prozesky, is not cash at all, rather the card swipe.

Steep charges for in-branch cash deposits which incentivise customers to use ATMs with automated deposit functionality increase to R60 plus R2.10 per R100. On bundled account options, cash deposits at ATMs are free up to the same thresholds provided for withdrawals.

Over the past year, it has driven down the volumes of cash deposits and withdrawals at branches in its mass and middle market Easy and Gold base by 55% and 28% respectively.

Prepaid electricity purchases on its digital channels will cost R2.50 from July 1 (purchases currently at R1.95) as will playing the lottery.

MultiChoice (DStv) payments, a very popular transaction in the mass market, are up from R6 to R6.50.

Fees for sending money to an eWallet are now segmented. For values under R1 000, a fee of R10.95 applies, while values over R1 000 cost R13.95.

Most in-branch transactions that are easily done on online or mobile channels are R70 from July, from R65 or R55 now.

Also from July 1, FNB customers will be able to cancel debit orders for free on the bank’s online/mobile channels and card replacement fees are now flat-rated at R100.

FNB is driving airtime purchases away from ATMs and cellphone banking, and Gold customers will now pay R2.50 for these transactions.

Purchases via the app or online banking remain free.