A survey of bank charges by the Bank of Ghana conducted in the first quarter of 2021 has revealed that majority of the 23 banks operating in the country do not charge customers' fees for withdrawing cash from an Automated Teller Machine (ATM).

However, almost all of them charge fees for issuance and maintenance of ATM cards.

For issuance of the card, UBA charged the highest fee of ¢30 at the end of every month, whilst Bank of Africa, First National Bank (FNB), Republic Bank and Stanbic do not charge any fees.

With regard to maintenance of the card, Standard Chartered Bank charged the highest fee of ¢15 per month, whilst FNB, National Investment Bank and UMB did not charge any fee.

Lending fees

For lending fees, banks including Agricultural Development Bank, Fidelity Bank, Societe Generale and OmniBSIC do not charge customers (retail and corporate) any commitment fees. But Bank of Africa and National Investment Bank charged fees of 1.50% of the total amount borrowed.

All the 23 banks however charged fees for processing of loan for both retail and corporate customers.

It ranged from 0.25% to 2.5% of the total loan amount. Societe Generale however charged the highest of 2.5%, whilst GCB and GT Bank charged the least of 0.5%.

Savings and Current Account  

In terms of initial deposit required for operating a savings account, Societe Generale, Stanbic and Stanchart pegged their minimum initial deposit at ¢100.

On the other hand, Guaranty Trust Bank does not accept any money for operating a savings account.

Stnabic and Stanchart once again expect a customer to leave ¢100 in the account as minimum operating balance.

GT Bank, Zenith and First Atlantic bank, however, allow customers to operate zero balances.

For current account, First Atlantic Bank and GT Bank allow customers to operate zero balance account for retail, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises as well as corporate customers.  However, Societe Generale pegged it minimum initial deposit account at ¢50, but allows zero balances for SME and corporate accounts as well as zero minimum operating balance.

On service charges, Stanbic Bank charged the highest fee (¢5-¢75) for individual customers, whilst Republic Bank charged the highest fee (¢20-¢1000) for both SMEs and corporate customers.

According to the Bank of Ghana, the charges published in the report were submitted by each bank.