TRANSPARENT ROBBERY OF CITIZENS Banks increase fees and interest rates, Banking Agency powerless!

By: A. Čorbo-Zećo

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Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina are facing price increases, as well as charges from banks. A large number of them entered the new year with notifications about increased banking services and loans.
Although it was estimated that there would be no new increase, interest rates are rising.

The blow to citizens' pockets is reflected in the form of increased fees for banking services, and fees for m-banking and e-banking services have also been changed by one hundred percent.

Prices for services for transactions within banks, as well as to other banks, are also changing, as are fees for payments in KM via standing orders.

The question is why the Banking Agency of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina admits that banks have no market reason for such an action, but that it does not have adequate solutions nor can it regulate or order banks to behave in accordance with market trends.

Director of the Agency, Jasmin Mahmuzić, stated that banks have no market reason for such an action, and that it is the individual policy of banks, their business model, and their decision on how they will treat their clients!?

“If we look in the context of the increase in the reference interest rate of the European Central Bank and the increase in Euribor as a consequence, meaning the ECB is raising reference interest rates on deposits. That increase in Euribor is a consequence of the increase in the price of deposits. And deposits in BiH are very stable and there is no increase in the price of deposits, so, speaking currently, there is no market reason for increasing interest rates. What I can tell clients and viewers is that there are 13 banks operating in FBiH, and not all banks operate according to the same business model. The best approach is for the clients themselves to assess which banks are trying, at this moment, perhaps, to make an extra profit at a time when they should not be doing so,” says the Director of the Banking Agency of FBiH for Hayat.

A similar answer is sent to inquiries from companies whose business will be significantly more expensive, considering the increase in fees.

“The Agency, as a regulatory body, does not have the authority to determine the type and amount of fees that banking system entities, including banks, will charge their clients, meaning the Agency cannot influence banks when determining fees. Banks define the amount and method of calculating fees for banking services through their internal acts, which can differ from one bank to another. These must be defined by a contractual relationship, general terms and conditions of business which include fees and other costs that banks charge clients, and these must be transparent and accessible to clients,” the Banking Agency states.

Translated, banks can freely 'rob' citizens, as long as it is transparent, meaning you have to agree to the robbery by contract!