BSP stops banks from raising ATM fees
ABS-CBNnews.com
Posted at 09/26/2013 2:35 PM | Updated as of 09/26/2013 4:48 PM
MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE) - There will be no increase in interbank ATM withdrawal fees for now. This comes as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas issued an order for banks to maintain status quo in their ATM fees.
BSP Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla, Jr. said the Monetary Board believes further study is needed to decide whether the banks' plan to increase in ATM fees is justified.
"The Monetary Board approved the issuance of a memorandum instructing ... banks to maintain the status quo in terms of both service fees and connectivity arrangement with respect to their ATM network pending a completion of a study," BSP Deputy Governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr. told reporters yesterday.
Earlier, several banks, including Metrobank, Security Bank and BDO, said they will be raising interbank ATM withdrawal fees from P11 to P15. The banks said this "an industry-wide development to basically cover the cost of operating the ATMs."
Espenilla said the BSP acknowledged that banks need to recover the costs of operations, but noted that increasing the ATM fees may affect a lot of consumers.