STRATEGIC PARTNERS
March 16, 2003
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- The number of Malaysian banks waiving annual fees for the country's Bankcard, an ATM card embedded with a chip that is expected to replace all existing cards by the end of July, is growing.
SOUTHERN Bank Bhd (SBB) will offer the card to its existing SBB and Direct Access customers free of charge for the first year, according to a report in The Star. Customers who meet certain terms and conditions will also receive a fee waiver in subsequent years.
SBB said its online infrastructure will allow customers to replace their cards instantly at any bank branch nationwide regardless of where their cards were originally issued. For Direct Access customers, the new card will be mailed to them directly.
HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd, which expects to launch its chip-based card in mid-year, also may not charge any fee for the card, according to The Star.
"We might decide not to charge (any fee) as we have other ways to recover our costs. Our focus is on customer satisfaction, not the cost," HSBC general manager commercial banking Richard Lee told the Star.
HSBC, which has completed the upgrading of its ATM network to be chip-compliant, has about 400,000 ATM cardholders and 110 ATMs nationwide.
Earlier this month, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) announced it would waive the annual card service fee for customers who upgrade their existing magnetic stripe cards.
The Malaysian Electronic Payment System Sdn Bhd (MEPS) drew criticism in November after it announced an 8 ringgits annual fee (about $2.10 U.S.) would be charged for the new chip-based cards. The fee would not be revenue for banks, but rather a "small contribution" to the investment involved in a chip upgrade, according to the Star.
MEPS managing director Datuk Mohd Hata Robani said in a statement that the amount of money spent on issuing the Bankcard was significant, with each bank contributing between ringgits 7million (about $1.8 million U.S.) and ringgits 40 million (about $10.5 million U.S.) to upgrade its ATMs and network infrastructure to support chip-based cards.
