Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr. said yesterday the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas must name banks that will increase Automated Teller Machine charges.
He also asked the BSP to name banks that will not increase ATM charges since not all of them will make the adjustment.
Campos, who was first to publicly reveal the impending adjustment in ATM charges, said the BSP need not wait for congressional inquiries to identify the “less than 10 banks” that have petitioned to raise ATM service fees.
The banks, Campos said, have submitted applications to increase their ATM user charges, following the lifting of a six-year freeze.
According to him, the House of Representatives and the Senate, which are set to conduct an inquiry into this development, are expected to demand full disclosure of the identities of the banks and know the justifications for their call for additional ATM charges.
Campos said the BSP management may direct its Consumer Financial Protection Department to release the names of the applicant banks.
He noted that although there were 10 banks that are pursuing ATM charges hikes, there is nonetheless “at least one big bank” that intends to reduce charges.
“That’s good news. If one big bank can bring down its ATM charge, presumably due to economies of scale, why can’t the rest of the big banks do the same?” Campos asked.
He explained that economies of scale with respect to ATM operations simply mean that the bigger banks with more machines achieve greater cost-savings from the higher level of use.
“While it might be understandable for the smaller banks with fewer ATMs to want to raise their fees, it might be harder for the bigger banks to justify their plans to jack up charges,” Campos said. (Ben Rosario)
