The State Bank of India has asked its branches to remove the minimum balance stipulation and refund charges
that were collected for failure to maintain the same. The circular issued on April 25 said the bank has decided to
waive
the requirement of maintenance of minimum balance for all types of
savings bank accounts with immediate effect. Accordingly, no minimum
balance charges would be levied every quarter henceforth, the circular
addressed to chief general managers of all SBI circles said. Branches
were advised to use approved
publicity material to the effect and to have them displayed prominently
on branch premises. In a preceding circular sent only the day before,
the bank ordered refund of charges for non-maintenance of minimum
balance ‘of personal segment' customers. This was aimed at setting right
an earlier order that sought to apply charges for
non-maintenance of minimum balances on all eligible accounts for the quarter ended March 31, 2012.
REFUND ORDERED
The circular said that “the competent authority has since approved refund of minimum balance charges
recovered,
if any, in respect of non-maintenance of minimum balance for the
quarter.” A senior
official of SBI said, “We are doing this to help improve our customer
base. It has been in the offing for some time.” Banks, including SBI,
fixed a higher minimum savings balance for customers in order to help
compensate for services they provided. The waiver of minimum balance
therefore represents a major departure from the bank's policy. The
official did not elaborate on why the change was done. – www.thehindubusinessline.com
No comments:
Post a Comment