BSP: BPI has right to increase ATM charges
Sunday, 30 September 2012 19:29 Jun Vallecera / Reporter
THE unilateral decision by the Bank of the Philippine Islands to raise
its automated teller machine (ATM) transaction charges by 50 percent was
an event uniquely its own and may not be questioned, according to the
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Anyone with misgivings about having to pay P5 more for transactions
conducted by non-BPI cardholders at any of BPI's 1,900 ATMs across the
country could always take their business elsewhere, the regulator said.
"They [BPI] obviously have to deal with negative customer reaction who
are free to decide to take their patronage elsewhere. And they [non-BPI
cardholders] have many other options," Deputy BSP Gov. Nestor A.
Espenilla Jr. said on Sunday.
This pertains to the decision by BPI of setting a higher charge of P15
for every transaction conducted at its network of ATMs by non-BPI
clients beginning Oct. 22 this year, from a charge of only P10 per
transaction for now.
BPI has already posted a notice at its website for this purpose and
rival banks were seen to hike higher ATM transaction charges of their own.
Espenilla said higher maintenance costs played a critical part in the
bank's decision.
"Maintaining ATM services is not costless. Cost was clearly a factor,"
he said.
But while banks like BPI are free to make appropriate cost adjustments
as and when they see fit, regulators may intervene in those cases when
industry-wide collusion is suspected, BSP Gov. Amando M. Tetangco Jr.
said in a text message.
"If they [ATM cardholder] find the price increase unreasonable, perhaps
choices with respect to other banks can be considered. But when the
industry as a whole raises their rates, this is typically where the BSP
checks if it looks like collusion," the regulator said.
Rita Canchela, Head of Corporate Communications at BPI, vowed to issue a
statement putting into perspective the need to hike the lender's
transaction charges on Saturday but none was received by the
BusinessMirror as of press time.
Nevertheless, the president and chief executive at the Philippine
Savings Bank, Pascual M, Garcia III, acknowledged the ATM fee hike was
made compulsory by the decision of the BSP excluding bank funds deployed
at the various ATM networks as no longer forming part of the
deposit-reserve system.
That decision had cost consequences for every bank with an ATM network
as their non-reserve eligible status meant funds that used to generate
earn interest income from the central bank no longer have that power to
draw income.
"Cash held in ATMs is no longer reserve eligible so we incur interest
costs for keeping them in ATMs until they get withdrawn," Garcia said.
PSB is the thrift unit of the universal lender Metropolitan Bank and
Trust Co. and one of BPI's toughest competitors in the lending space.
BPI President and Chief Executive Officer Aurelio R. Montinola III had
said the cost implications for the lender is very significant because
they deploy some P2 billion worth of funds everyday just to replenish
depleted ATMs.
Deployment volumes are more than double on long weekends and on
holidays, Montinola said.
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