Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
The Bank of Zambia (BoZ) has issued a directive on the prohibition of unwarranted charges and fees to all financial service providers.
The Directive which came into effect on Tuesday the 4th of September 2018, through Government Gazette Number 6693, is pursuant to section 167 of the Banking and Financial Service Act No. 7 of 2017.
BoZ Deputy Governor for operations Bwalya Ng’andu says the Central Bank has determined that the imposition of unwarranted charges and fees on members of the public is an affront of the rights of consumers of financial services.
Dr. Ng’andu says imposition of unwarranted charges and fees also undermines efforts towards financial inclusion in Zambia.
In a statement made available to QTV News Dr. Ng’andu says the BoZ deems the charge for bank account opening for both local and foreign currency to be unwarranted.
Dr. Ng’andu says charge for over the counter cash deposit and the charge for over the counter cash withdrawals are also unwarranted.
He says the other charges the BoZ deems unwarranted include charge for cash deposit made by a third party into a customer’s account and the Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) surcharge.
Dr. Ng’andu says this includes the charge for cash deposits on ATM, charge for aborted ATM cash withdrawals, charge for ATM reset and charge for reactivating a bank account.
He has since encouraged members of public to familiarize themselves with these unwarranted charges which are 26 in total and report the BoZ if any of them are passed to their accounts.
ba Investrust are still charging claiming not have heard or received any notifications from the BOZ