Central Bank of Bahrain to publish banking service charges

The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) yesterday launched a pioneering service to disseminate information related to fees charged by the Kingdom's retail banks for various consumer-related banking services. With this, CBB became the first central bank in the Middle East region to publish a regularly updated banking-service-charge schedule.

The schedule of fees levied by individual banks as well as interest rates applicable for consumer loans was now available on the central bank's website ( HYPERLINK "http://www.cbb.gov.bh" www.cbb.gov.bh).

The schedule provides, in percentage terms or Bahrain-dinar value as appropriate, fees related to a wide range of consumer-related banking services - account charges (covering deposits), credit cards, loans, automatic-teller-machine cards, cheque collection, cash-withdrawal charges, remittance fees, other charges and investment funds.

"The service is derived from the need for greater transparency in service charges for the protection of consumers and that it will enhance competition among banks," said Khalid Hamad, CBB Executive Director, Banking Supervision. The availability of such data, he said, would also enable consumers make informed decisions about services offered by banks.

The banking-service-charge schedule is designed to enable consumers to easily compare fees charged or interest rates levied by various banks for the same service or product, said Yousif Hassan, Director, Retail Banking Supervision, CBB.

The loan category of the schedule, for example, lists the annual percentage rate charged by each bank on a consumer loan as well as service fees for administration for consumer loans, administration for mortgages, early settlement, loan restructuring, installment postponement besides several other loan-related services.

The account-charge category lists the minimum balance required for savings and current accounts and the bank's charge in case of failure to maintain the balance. Other information included in this category relates to fixed-deposit accounts and the charge for breaking such a deposit and cheque book issuance fees.

The banking-service-charge schedule can be accessed through the main menu bar on the CBB website under consumer information.

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Central Bank of Bahrain to publish banking service charges