Banks will not raise ATM fees automatically

Diokno assures

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno assured the public that the lifting of the six-year ban on ATM fee increase does not mean an automatic adjustment and that banks would have to first submit proposals to the central bank.

“The moratorium on fee adjustment was just finished (but this does not imply) an automatic adjustment (in fees),” Diokno told reporters on the sidelines of the Memorandum of Agreement signing of the BSP, BDO Foundation and the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City. The MOA was for a financial education program for uniformed personnel.

Diokno said banks do not have to charge 110 to 115 per ATM transaction if they choose not to, and in fact since the moratorium was lifted this year, no bank has yet to make a proposal to adjust fees.

“Depende sa bangko kung gusto nya mag charge or hindi. Hindi pa natin alam ang mangyayari. Wala pa naman nag-apply for adjustment (It will depend on the bank if it will charge a fee or not. We don’t know what will happen and there are no applications for adjustment),” he said.

Diokno also said: “Pag nagpropose na sila ng adjustment, they will have to go to the BSP at pag hindi namin gusto (we’ll) just tell them to change the modality.”

The BSP chief said he prefers the 110 to 115 fee per ATM transaction if making a withdrawal using an ATM that is not the client’s bank. “That is the likely arrangement… ipagpatuloy na lang (Just continue with existing fees),” he said. He also noted that not all interbank transactions are slapped with a fee, some are free of charge.

In 2013, before the moratorium was imposed, the country’s top three banks BDO Unibank Inc., Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. and Bank of the Philippine Islands have all indicated their intention to raise ATM fees.

BDO President and CEO, Nestor V. Tan, is concerned that the circular approved by the BSP recently, which changed the manner of ATM charging from issuer-based to acquirer-based, may lead to higher fees.