Increasing ATM fees smacks of corporate greed

There is the disturbing news that service fees for the use of automated teller machines (ATM) operated by banking institutions in the country are on the rise. Even more disturbing is the news that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) favors this development.

Under the plan, a client of a particular bank can use any ATM of that bank free of charge. If, however, that client uses the ATM of another bank, he will be charged about P20 or more for each transaction. That amount will be automatically debited from the client’s account, most probably without him noticing it.

That idea may seem relatively harmless, but it is unjustified and uncalled for during these times of Covid-19.

To fight the Covid-19 menace, the government has adopted the policy of keeping as many people at home as possible. That way, the chances of spreading the virus is kept to a minimum. Thus, unnecessary trips outside one’s home and office are discouraged, and rightly so.

In this age of electronic commerce, the ubiquitous ATM provides a convenient way of keeping as many people off the streets as possible. More often than not, there is always an accessible ATM near one’s home, school or office. Undoubtedly, the ATM reduces the number of people who have to go inside the premises of a bank during the usual office hours. That substantially reduces the chances of contracting and spreading Covid-19.

In other words, encouraging the use of ATM is one way of keeping the coronavirus away.

Unfortunately, increasing ATM service fees runs contrary to state policy.

Many workers withdraw their wages and salaries from banks preselected by their employers. Since some of those preselected banks may not have an ATM in the area where a particular worker resides, there will be workers who will have to withdraw their money from the ATM of other banks that are near their homes.

The problem becomes more pronounced as regards employees in the government sector, whose salaries and wages are deposited by the government in state-run banking institutions. Since these government depositaries have far less ATM than the private banks do, many government employees are forced to withdraw their money from the ATM of private banks near their residences.

Sure, P20 or so for each transaction may be a small price for the well-off. To daily wage earners and those with limited income, that is an amount they may not afford in the long run.

Banking institutions that want to increase their ATM fees offer the lame excuse that ATM use electricity and have to be secured. That, they say, translates to a big overhead for them.

To repeat, that’s a lame excuse.

“No commercial banking corporation in the Philippines loses money. The regular increase in the number of bank branches nationwide will attest to that.

It is no secret that banking institutions realize large profits every year. A look at their status publications in the newspapers, the amount of corporate income tax they pay, and the ever-increasing value of their capital stock will confirm it.

No commercial banking corporation in the Philippines loses money. The regular increase in the number of bank branches nationwide will attest to that.

With all that corporate profit, the cost of the electricity consumed by ATM can easily be absorbed by the banks.

As for the ATM security excuse offered by the banks, suffice it to say that it is well-nigh impossible to steal or manipulate an ATM. It will take a lot of time to do that, and long before the crime is consummated, it would have been already detected by police authorities.

Because the banking industry is a trade attended with a very high degree of public interest, it is strictly regulated by law.

This is where the BSP comes in. Its charter mandates that its regulatory powers must be exercised with a view toward, among others, protecting the public from unsound banking practices.

Aside from being in conflict with the state policy against Covid-19, increasing ATM service fees, especially during these hard times, is tantamount to an unsound banking practice which should be disallowed by the BSP.

Truth to tell, the plan to increase ATM fees smacks of corporate greed, plain and simple.

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In this age of electronic commerce, the ubiquitous ATM provides a convenient way of keeping as many people off the streets as possible.