PMA Issues New Instructions on Bank Fees and Commissions

The Palestine Monetary Authority released  new instructions to regulate fees and commissions charged by banks for services they provided to the public. Instructions were issued after discussions with the Association of Banks in Palestine, based on fair credit principles that links commissions to service or risk incurred by banks. The instructions came to update those issued in 2011, and the new ones take into account developments on the  banking sector, where fees and commissions have been cancelled and new fees have been approved. the number of fees and commissions was decreased from 119 (2011) to 94 in the recent instructions.

The PMA indicated that the new instructions principally take into account interests of the citizens, as well as fulfillment of future aspirations of the PMA and the banking sector, which intend to support optimal use of plastic cards, internet banking services and other services available through banks' websites, in order to reduce the use of banknotes. This policy also aims at reduce dealing with cheques and make use of alternative means such as cards and transfers.

In terms of the  cash withdrawals commission, it has been reduced from 3 US Dollars to one Dollar, taking into account emergent circumstances faced by public servants. People with special needs and ones who can barely read  are exempt from this commission, which mainly aims at making people use automated teller machines as an alternative to queuing inside bank branches, and according to banking standards.