Banks Asked to Cut 150-Baht Foreign ATM Card Fees

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The following appears in the BANGKOK POST:

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Banks Asked to Cut Foreigners' ATM Fees

 

By: SOMRUEDI BANCHONGDUANG

Published: 4/05/2009

 

The Thai Bankers' Association will ask local banks to cut fee charges for foreign cardholders using local ATMs, according to association secretary-general Twatchai Yongkittikul.

 

He said the TBA would hold talks among its members about current fees.

 

But he cautioned that any cuts would likely be marginal, as most of the fees represented charges imposed for international network access and simply passed on to end-users.

 

Since mid-April, foreign cardholders withdrawing funds from local ATMs have been charged 150 baht per transaction.

 

Dr Twatchai said the fee largely came from new transaction charges imposed by international service providers MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Worldwide to cover interchange network costs.

 

Local banks, which had previously absorbed the expenses, are now looking to pass on their own operating expenses to customers, arguing that the fees charged in Thailand are in line with expenses charged for cross-border ATM transactions in other countries.

 

Dr Twatchai acknowledged that a number of foreign tourists and expatriates had complained about the added fees.

 

At a minimum, he said, local banks should communicate better with customers about the expenses banks incur for processing international transactions.

 

"Local banks should give more information about fees on the ATM screen, and then customers can make their own choice about whether to continue with the transaction," Dr Twatchai said.

 

"The TBA will try to raise awareness about the issue. Unfortunately, right now many foreign customers have a negative view of local banks due to the fee issue."

 

But a MasterCard spokesman denied that the 150-baht ATM access fee imposed by many Thai banks stemmed from any recent fee change or initiative by the company. The spokesman said MasterCard last notified member banks in October 2007 about a 0.2-percentage-point increase in fees effective from January 2008 under cross-border agreements. Since then, no other fee increases have been made related to ATM charges.