Zim banks under pressure to reduce bank charges

Zimbabwean banks are under pressure to reduce bank charges in line with the prevailing stable macro- economic conditions for the benefit of depositors.

The pressure on banks follows recent revelations by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) that the monetary authorities are concerned with the current high bank charges that do not reflect the real cost of transactions in the financial sector.

While banks have argued that the high charges are mainly due to prohibitive costs of running bank accounts for depositors, the banking public say the country's financial sector should comply with the central bank's directive to slash the bank charges.

"We are not happy with the bank charges at our local banks. Sometimes you wonder whether it is worth to have an account given that our salaries are very low. Instead of charging us in such a manner, we are entitled to interest rates that are higher than bank charges," said one banker.

Although the banking sector has been rendered safe and sound for investments and transactions, economic observers say the current high bank charges are discouraging savings that are important in increasing investments within key productive sectors.

Banks are being called upon to focus on building sustainable levels of income from core business sources such as income from interest, which is reliable and stable, as opposed to bank charges.