Two banks have already announced that they would like to place information on commission for cash-out on the automated cashpoint Business Portal Kapital.kz. informs.

The issue of informing by banks their customers of the cost of services is increasingly raised at different levels. Thus, in the post-crisis time discussions were mainly focused on the lending market. For example, in 2011, the National Bank of Kazakhstan required banks to show the client the effective lending rate under the so -called anti- usury. This step would affect the quality of loans and protect the rights of consumers of financial services.

The market of bank cards may also come under the scrutiny of a regulator. Thus, it is possible that banks, at the legislative level, will be obliged to post information on the amount of the commission on the automated cashpoint screen.

“At the present time, none of the banks in the Republic of Kazakhstan indicate a commission on automated cashpoint. This trend can be seen outside the country. Often spending time abroad I can say that the fee for cashing through the automated cashpoint is shown only in Turkey and Thailand. But in these countries, the amount of commission is significant, so the client is informed”, Nurlan Zhagiparov, the executive director of Kazcommerts bank said.

At the same time, the Director the analytical department of Asyl –Invest, Ayvar Baykenov believes that banks should fully inform their clients about commissions. Thus, as he says, the decision shall not be affected the size of the commission. “Every citizen of Kazakhstan going to the ATM must know in advance what kind of commission a bank will charge for cash card for cash – out. It does not matter that one bank charges 1% and other 0.2 %. Banks are likely to display information about commissions for cash, even if it is not provided for by the law. So, if one of the banks puts this option on the ATM screen, then most likely, other banks will follow this example,” Baykenov said.

By the way at the present time the difference in the amount of commission charged by banks for cash via ATM can be up to 1%. “A few years ago, community of banks in Kazakhstan adopted a joint resolution on the adoption of uniform conditions for cash withdrawal at ATMs of other banks – a party to the agreement. Thus, in this case the commission of 1% of the amount of to be cashed out, but not less than 500 Tenge per transaction,” Rustem Nurmambetov, the regional manager of Open Way, a developer of processing systems for many banks in Kazakhstan said.

As Mr. Nurmambetov says, when using such a simple scheme for calculating the commission, displaying on the ATM screen of the function of informing the customer of the amount of commission can take from a few days to a month. As the source said, for some categories of cardholders, banks can bring more information about the commission for cash withdrawal on the ATM screen with the help of their experts. As he said, Kazkom and national bank plan to introduce this function in the near future.

Please see the full version on  Business portal Kapital.kz.