Controversial bank fees to start in the autumn, AIB boss tells its investors

AIB insisted it never intended to analyse individual social media accounts

Charlie Weston Twitter Email

May 19 2020 02:30 AM

AIB is planning to plough ahead with controversial moves to introduce transaction fees in the autumn for customers who have been able to avoid them up to now.

The bank caved in to sustained pressure in March and said it would give its customers a break by holding off on the fees move during the pandemic.

But it has now told investors that it plans to introduce the changes, which will mean huge numbers of customers being charged transaction fees, and a 1c charge for using contactless cards.

Some calculations indicate that the move is likely to cost customers between €100 and €150 a year.

At the moment customers who keep a minimum balance of €2,500 per quarter can avoid fees and a quarterly maintenance fee of €4.

Charges will include an ATM withdrawal fee of 35c and an over-the-counter transaction cost of 39c, which will apply no matter how much money is kept in the current account.

Padraic Kissane, the consumer representative on the Irish Banking Culture Board, said the move to force more current account customers to pay fees displayed "an alarming lack of empathy".

In March, AIB performed a U-turn after it was stung by the criticism.

It said the disruption caused by Covid-19 prompted it to re-think its fees change.

But now the bank's chief financial officer Donal Galvin has told investors the bank is planning to introduce the maintenance and transaction fees in the autumn.

He said the fee change move was temporarily suspended but the bank was still "committed to doing it".

Last night, however, the bank insisted it was keeping the issue under review.

"Given the unprecedented challenges the country, customers and the bank are facing it is imperative that the bank keeps all its fees and charges under review," it said.

The bank insists that as ATM use is down, the average customer will incur fees of around €20 a quarter.

Last month, AIB said it would refund some of the charges imposed on personal customers and small firms hit by the economic fall-out from Covid-19.

The bank is refunding what is called an "unpaid charge" for all of those who have had them imposed lately.

This is a €10 per item cost that is applied when there is insufficient funds in a customer's account for a payment to be processed.

The bank will continue to provide free banking on student, graduate, advantage and basic bank accounts. Advantage accounts are for people aged over 66.

Meanwhile, Bank of Ireland has postponed a planned hike in the fees it charges firms for handling cash until later in the year.

The 33pc rise in charges was to apply to firms lodging and withdrawing cash and cashing cheques from May 18 next.

The fee hike would have hit shops, pubs, restaurants, cafés and other cash-generating businesses hard.

However, Ulster Bank has refused to yield to public pressure and is continuing to charge 1c fee for use of its contactless debit cards despite the shift away from cash use to cards.

Controversial bank fees to start in the autumn, AIB boss tells its investors

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