KINGSTON, Jamaica -- The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) beginning Jan. 1 will charge customers for transactions at branches, in a move to relieve crowded conditions and encourage customers to use its electronic facilities, such as ATMs.
BNS will become the second commercial bank to introduce in-branch charges, following CIBC, which imposed the charge in late 1997. Banks including BNS have, over the past decade, spent hundreds of millions of dollars to create a network of ATMs and debit point-of-sale, to reduce traffic at their branches.
According to a Business Observer report, the fee for a deposit or withdrawal from a branch will be $19.75, payable by all except senior citizens or customers with a Scotiaplus 55 account.
Banks including Scotia charge customers to use their electronic systems, but assess a lower rate than for branch transactions. Current rates are: $12 for ATM withdrawals, deposits and transfers; $8.50 for the bank's telephone banking service, TeleScotia; and $8.50 for debit point-of-sale transactions.
Scotia says it will waive the charge for the first five electronic transactions per month for each customer, while those with minimum balances of $50,000 to $100,000 will get a monthly rebate of up to $100. Those with balances of $100,000 and over will get full rebate of the charges.
ATMs were introduced in the early 1990s as the first facility for customers to gain access to money from their account without entering branches. Toward the end of the decade, debit point-of-sale was implemented after banks linked their ATM networks to the Mutlilink system, which allows customers from one bank to use the ATM of any other bank. Telephone banking was added in February of 2000.
