Banks don’t give a damn: Tweya

THE local branches of three foreign banks are milking their Namibian bank customers when it comes to bank fees and as soon as one deposits money in a bank, charges are deducted immediately, Deputy Finance Minister Tjekero Tweya said in Parliament last week.

‘We have appealed to these banks about this but they don’t care a damn because it is our money, of Namibians. ‘If you deposit N$400 at one of those banks, this amount immediately decreases due to bank fees being charged,’ Tweya said on Wednesday. ‘There is only one bank in Namibia that introduced a banking product where one can deposit money without being charged,’ Tweya said.Tweya was speaking on the Payment Systems Management Amendment Bill, which will give the Bank of Namibia the power to regulate the fees commercial banks charge customers.Tweya did not stop there. ‘Of the four commercial banks operating here, three banks have bosses who are seconded from South Africa and the message is clear to milk the cow, meaning us the Namibians, because it is our money. ‘We cannot breathe and cannot develop because of the high bank charges. That is also the reason why about 45 per cent of Namibians are not wiling to take their money to the bank, there is no incentive. They see their deposits eaten away by bank fees.’Those in charge of the three [foreign] banks are only concerned to make money for their banks [in South Africa],’ the Deputy Finance Minister charged.Johan de Waal of the DTA opposition party complained that certain online banking features had disappeared since the credit card system of banks had been localised and he urged these features should return.’When online banking started in Namibia one could check one’s balance and one’s payment history with regard to home loans or transfers from the credit card account to other accounts. When the credit card system was ‘Namibianised’ and banks issued clients with new credit cards, these features disappeared the ‘history’ button when doing online banking also was gone, yet online banking costs stayed the same,’ De Waal criticised.’Nowadays when you want to know your credit card balance, you have to phone a consultant [at a bank] and the consultants tell you they must phone Johannesburg in South Africa!’ De Waal added. Deputy Mines and Energy Minister Bernhard Esau said if Namibian customers wanted to take out a loan at any of the three Namibian branches of the three commercial banks with regional headquarters in South Africa, the loan had to be approved in Johannesburg.McHenry Venaani (DTA) called for a financial ombudsman where bank clients could go to raise complaints. Swapo backbencher Tommy Nambahu proposed that the authorities could strengthen the banking arm of NamPost. ‘This would surely help as NamPost has got branches in many large and small towns in the country,’ Nambahu contributed to the debate, which will conclude this week.