Vietnamese banks to charge clients for ATM use

The Vietnam Bank Card Association wants to charge ATM card users VND1,000 per transaction from December 1. The 20-member Vietnam Bank Card Association (VBCA) is seeking the State Bank of Vietnam’s approval to charge customers for using automated teller machines from December 1, its chief has said.

The banks want to charge VND1,000 per transaction, chairwoman Nguyen Thu Ha said, adding she sees no reason for the central bank to reject the plan. The VBCA had planned to introduce the charge much earlier but said last June the central bank wanted it deferred because of the economic slowdown, she said. She said it is a reasonable demand since banks spend a lot of money on setting up and maintaining their ATM network. She said an ATM costs around US$30,000 without including maintenance costs. The VBCA wants customers to get used to the idea of paying a user fee before increasing it, she said, admitting it has not yet decided whether to raise the fee. But there are disagreements over the timing of the move. DongA Commercial Joint Stock Bank’s chairman Tran Phuong Binh told Thanh Nien Daily that banks should put off introduction of the charge by a year because of the economic slowdown. “The fee will possibly see low-income people, whose salaries are paid into their accounts, withdrawing all their money in one shot. “They will struggle to manage their monthly spending. “One ATM costs us $15,000 to 25,000 and annual maintenance $500-1,000. But we treat it as promotional expenses to encourage people to use ATMs. “We have to keep at least VND500 million at every ATM.” Foreign banks said they have no plan to charge ATM transactions. Thomas Tobin, CEO of HSBC’s Vietnam branch, said: "We do not charge any fee for the transactions on our ATMs and the ATMs of our strategic partner Techcombank. But we will review our policy when we fully operate as a wholly foreign owned bank in Vietnam." HSBC Holdings, Europe’s biggest bank, has got a license to open a wholly-owned unit in Vietnam. ANZ too said it has no plans to impose the charge. Dave Stewart, an English teacher in the city, said most ATMs in the city do not have money. “The service is not good enough, so it is unfair that we have to pay a fee for it,” he said. An official from the central bank, who wished to remain unnamed, said if they cannot charge ATM transaction fees, domestic banks would be unwilling to expand their ATM network. “The important thing is for them to charge a reasonable fee,” he said. Reported by Hoang Uy