(Jamaica Observer) COMPILATION of the range of bank fee fluctuations that will inform a report to Parliament is currently underway. The report will include fees charged by financial institutions, including credit unions, as at October 31, 2013, within 60 days or by the end of 2013.
Brian Wynter, governor of the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), declined to comment on whether banks increased fees to compensate for a fall in revenue due to the Government debt swap.
“I am not commenting on the fees, not right now,” said governor of the BOJ. “It’s a debate I am happy to have but not now. I am trying to avoid having a conversation through the media.”
The BOJ conducts an annual bank fee report, which started some three years earlier following a similar uproar over bank fees, Wynter recalled, adding that it is available on the central bank’s website.
The annual report offers fees up to year-end but Parliament wants a report on the fees for this ensuing calendar year.
Last week, the Economy Production Committee of Parliament, which is concerned about bank fees, put forward a motion requesting a report on the matter from the BOJ.
It also asked that the committee meet within 45 days to commence an evaluation of that report and make recommendations to the House on steps to regulate the fees which are currently market determined
“Currently the BOJ does not set prices,” said Wynter after a quarterly monetary press briefing held at the BOJ’s downtown Kingston headquarters. “Fees are prices, charges are prices, interest rates are prices.”
The Jamaica Bankers Association indicates on its website that fees are necessary to recover some of the operational costs associated with providing their services, which include staff, location, security, technology and back-office processing.
“Fees are also used by banks to discourage customers from using services that are relatively more expensive for the bank to provide than alternatives available,” it added.
In its latest quarterly review, the BOJ projected one per cent growth as the best possible outturn for the fiscal year.
The island recorded marginal growth in the September quarter which represented the growth for the first time in six quarters.
“However, domestic demand conditions are expected to remain relatively weak over the near term,” said Wynter.
The central bank is also projecting fiscal year inflation to fall within the target range of between 8.5 and 10.5 per cent.
“This forecast primarily reflects the impact of the recent increase in the tariff for water rates and seasonally higher prices for some domestic agriculture products,” said the central bank governor. “It is also expected that there will be some lagged pass-through of exchange rate depreciation to prices but in the context of continued weak demand.”
