News

Australia's Reserve Bank to require fee disclosure at ATM

December 9, 2003

SYDNEY - Australia's Reserve Bank plans to force banks to display the cost of using a foreign ATM, the bank said.

According to a report in The Age, a bank spokesman told a parliamentary committee it was likely to recommend to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission a plan to require commercial banks to reveal how much they charge non-customers for use of their ATMs.

At present, people using the ATM of another bank are charged a fee, but the fees are not revealed until cardholders receive monthly bank statements.

Under the Reserve's plan, these fees will be disclosed on the ATM screen so people can make an informed choice as whether to use that particular bank, according to The Age.

"The plan is to get some competition and transparency into this, so that when you go to an ATM, you see what the charge is, decide to make the transaction or you can make the transaction at another ATM which provides a cheaper service," the spokesman said. "At the moment you have no choice at all. This is a proposal that would introduce competition into that market."