FNB fees unchanged until June

First National Bank (FNB) announced on Thursday that its fees will remain unchanged until June 2011.

Saying that having been cited as the bank with the lowest charges and most sustained decline in charges over several years, FNB said it was now setting out to maintain this important position in the banking sector.

Said FNB Pricing Executive James Fowle; “FNB does reward customers who switch to our self-service electronic channels. We view these channels as being more convenient, secure and most importantly, more cost-effective to both the customer and the bank. FNB does not hesitate to pass along cost savings to customers. In many cases we have cut costs or have maintained costs at the same level for several years.

“As more customers switch to these channels we will be able to further lower charges as we achieve greater economies of scale. In the current low inflation environment consumers are becoming increasingly sensitive to small price increases.

“FNB plans to maintain its current pricing philosophy throughout 2010 and 2011. While our annual review for 2011/12 is little distant at the moment, there is no question that we will again favour customers who adopt our electronic channels in the years to come,” said Fowle.

FNB reviews its prices across all products and services once year. The bank's fees will thus remain unchanged until June 2011.

With regard to the bundling of services within packages, Fowle emphasised that the services were not offered at additional cost to the customer. As examples, he noted that FNB's inContact and Cellphone Banking did not levy usage or subscription fees.

“FNB specifically looks at services that will benefit to our customers. Another example is our offer of free internet bandwidth. We can hardly expect our customers to migrate to Online Banking without bandwidth,” said Fowle.

He added: “The Unlimited Option pricing on our most popular accounts, the Smart Account and the Smart Cheque Account remain unchanged from last year.

“FNB remains the lowest cost-for-value provider of banking services to all segments. Even when the value benefits of FNB accounts are removed from the equation, FNB offers the lowest costs with accounts such as FNB Easy Plan,” concluded Fowle. - I-Net Bridge