Ministry of Planning and Finance urged four state owned banks to relax the 0.03 percent services fee foreign currency deposits

The Ministry of Planning and Finance, under the Union Government, has pleaded with four state-owned banks to remove the 0.03 percent service fee placed on foreign currency deposit that are being charged to customers.

The four state-owned banks include Myanma Economic Bank (MEB), Myanma Agriculture and Development Bank (MADB), Myanma Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanmar Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB) are all regulated by the Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM).

“There are no state-run banks that are facing losses, they always have a big margin. However, they charge customers a 0.03 percent service fee on foreign deposits. It is not fair to customers by charging this foreign currency deposit fee. There are four state-owned banks and we have requested them to drop the service fees. By dropping the service fees, we hope that they can gain more trusts from customers,’’ said U Soe Win, Union Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, at the regular meeting between U Myint Swe, Vice President No. 1 of Myanmar, and local businessmen.

U Aung Myint, Secretary of Myanmar Rice Federation, also weighed in on the debate. He said, “It would be a great move if the 0.03 percent service fee is dropped for foreign currency deposits at MFTB and MICB. Since these are for export and import, dropping the service fee would be much better for businessmen.”

(Myanmar Business Today: https://www.mmbiztoday.com/articles/ministry-urges-state-banks-relax-foreign-currency-deposit-fee )

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