{UAH} ATM charges: Here is what your bank deducts off your account

By Salim Kalanzi

The Bank of Uganda (BoU) has called onto commercial banks to work out solutions that will ultimately bring down the cost of accessing money through the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).

Currently, ATM withdraw charges differ in each of the 24 commercial banks, a scenario that has impacted appreciation of digital transactions. More than 75% of payments are still made through cash.

Some of the differences in tariffs across the industry have been blamed no high fees by international switch service providers such as Visa, Mastercard and China Union pay. Other cost drivers are largely due to the independent nature of cost structures employed by the different banks.   

The table below shows prevailing ATM withdraw charges for each bank.

No.	Bank	Charge per transaction
1	ABC Bank	1,500
2	Absa Bank	1,000
3	Bank of Africa	700
4	Bank of India	N/A
5	Baroda	660
6	Cairo	1,150
7	CBAU	600
8	Centenary	1,000
9	DFCU	1,000
10	Diamond Trust	1,000
11	Eco Bank	1,000
12	Equity	750
13	Exim Bank	700
14	Finance Trust	800
15	GT Bank	800 – 1,000
16	Housing Finance	700 – 900
17	KCB Bank	1,000
18	NC Bank	1,000
19	Opportunity	800
20	Orient	600
21	Stanbic	1,200
22	Standard Chartered	1,000
23	Tropical	900
24	United Bank of Africa	700

Source: Bank of Uganda. This data was provided by the commercial banks as at January 2020.

The harmonization of charges at the ATMs is very critical according to BoU's director in charge of national payments systems Mackay Aumo. In August 2019, BOU issued a circular to all financial institutions to review ATM tariffs with a possibility of revising it downwards.

The charges in the industry range between sh600 to sh1,500 currently according to data from BoU. Its only cheaper for you to pay slightly less when you visit your own branch ATM. Accessing your money via Interswitch may cost you between sh1,800 to sh2,000.

On the other hand, when you use your Visa Card or Mastercard, you might fork out at least sh2,500 per transaction. The charges may vary depending how much your withdrawing. Withdrawing dollars from the ATM attracts higher charges.  

While speaking to reporters in March, Uganda Bankers Association (UBA) executive director Wilbrod Owor said "as an industry, we clearly acknowledge that the tariffs are high."

UBA says that member banks have been working on an infrastructure sharing arrangement for harmonization of fees. However, these arrangements are currently on hold due to COVID-19.

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"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives"

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