BSP lowers charges on dormant accounts

By Riza Lozada

The Bangko Sentral ng Pili­pinas (BSP) has revised the rules on dormant deposits and bank fees, which the BSP said was part of efforts to strengthen protection of depositors.

Currently, bank accounts that are considered dormant are those that have no deposits or withdraw­als for about two years. Dormant fees range from about P200 and above per month.

However, the BSP said its pol­icy-making Monetary Board (MB) has revised the rules and now require banks and non-stock savings and loan associations (NSSLAs) to implement a monthly dormancy fee not higher than P30.

The fee can only be imposed “if there is no deposit or withdrawal from the account for five years, if the depos­its are below the minimum monthly average daily balance, and if the depos­itory bank or NSSLA has complied with the notification requirements,” it said.

Banks are now required to notify dormant accounts holders of the situ­ation in three instances.

First is before the start of the dor­mancy period; second, when the dor­mancy fee will be imposed; and third, when the account will be placed under escheat or when it will be reverted to the National Treasurer in line with the Unclaimed Balances Act.

The BSP said a depositor must be informed through mail, courier deliv­ery, electronic mail (e-mail) telephone call and other means 60 days before the account becomes dormant and 60 days before the imposition of dorman­cy fees.

For escheat, or transfer of a prop­erty of a dead person, banks are re­quired to inform owners of soon-to-be dormant account of the process 60 days before the proceedings com­mence.

Banks are now also required to post fees of their products and services on their websites and in conspicuous places in banks.

”Clients are granted the opportu­nity to manifest objection to amend­ments to fees’ terms and conditions and the right to exit the contract with­out penalty,” the BSP said.

Meanwhile, the central bank said new regulations were also approved for domestic fund transfers or remit­tances.

Under the enhanced rules, only the sender should be charged of ser­vice fee.

”This enables determination of the exact amount to be received by the beneficiary and allows consumers to decide on the most cost-efficient means for remitting money,” the BSP said.

The BSP said the new rules would take effect six months after the publication of these on a na­tional daily but “the notification re­quirements and record retention of accounts subject to escheat shall be effective 15 days after publication to cover the next round of escheat in January 2017.”

”The BSP fosters a robust con­sumer regulatory environment to enable citizens to make wiser finan­cial decisions and to contribute ac­tively to the promotion of financial stability,” it added.