Some ATM fees at CMB to double next month
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It will now cost twice as much for China Merchants Bank (CMB) customers to grab money when they're on the go and can't find a CMB branch.
The bank confirmed it will raise the interbank cash-handling fee through money machines to 4 yuan from 2 yuan per use starting June 1 in Jinan, Shandong Province. But, the change may not affect everyone.
"We haven't got any indication that the charge will also be adjusted in Beijing," a customer-service representative for China Merchants Bank told the Global Times on Sunday.
The charge was raised to 4 yuan in Shenzhen and Suzhou, Jiangsu Province last year. "It depends on the local banks, there's no nationwide standard," she said.
Four national banks in the same city raised their fees to 4 yuan last year. At the same time, some joint-stock banks raised the fees, like the Bank of Communications and Guangdong Development Bank.
"I don't understand why the charge should be paid. It's the kind of service the banks should provide to the customers for free," Zhou Jian, 30, a white-collar worker at a joint venture in Beijing told the Global Times on Sunday.
The China Banking Regulatory Commission, People's Bank of China and National Development and Reform Commission of China released a notice this March dictating banks should cut 34 different service charges, including fees for opening or closing an account and password modification starting July 1 this year. The interbank cash-handling fee through ATMs was not included.
"It's reasonable for banks to gain more profit as a commercial undertaking, but it doesn't mean that banks should be able to profit unlimitedly," Zhao Xijun, vice director of The School of Finance with Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Sunday.
"Banks need to be able to pay operating costs. It may work in the bank's favor to talk to customers to get opinion about the changes, which might be helpful when it comes to solving these contradictions between banks and customers," Zhao said.
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