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Banks usually charge account maintenance fees twice a year, but the central bank instructed the lenders to charge the fee only once from now, for account holders with up to Tk10 lakh in deposits in any savings account
The Bangladesh Bank on Sunday reduced the annual account maintenance fee for small depositors as part of its financial incentives, as well as to encourage depositing amid the ongoing economic hardship created by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Banks usually charge account maintenance fees twice a year, but the central bank instructed the lenders to charge the fee only once from now, for account holders with up to Tk10 lakh in deposits in any savings account.
The BB said that the instruction would be effective for 2021.
The central bank took the initiative as part of it providing financial incentives and encouraging increasing deposits, said a top central bank official.
The move comes as a respite for depositors, who are getting out from banks as banks are offering lower interest rates on deposit products. As a result, small savers were searching alternatives to invest their money.
The overall weighted average deposits rate in the banking sector stood at 4.46% in February, down from 4.51% in January.
Most of the lenders deposits rate stood at below 3%, which is not profitable for savers.
Savers are very much interested to invest their hard earned money into the government saving tools instead of banks because the highest interest rate for savings instruments is nearly 12%, while the interest rate in banks is 3-5%.
As a result, net sales of National Savings Certificate remained significantly high in the July-February period of the current fiscal year as the government’s borrowing using the tools exceeded Tk9,311 crore from its target of Tk20,000 crore for the fiscal year 2020-2021.
Bankers said that now small savers will be encouraged to park their money in banks owing to the central bank’s initiative.
(DT)
