VIB's new customers are free to transfer money online and to withdraw money at 17,000 ATMs nationwide (Photo: VIB) Hanoi (VNA) - More and more bankshave started offering free services to attract customers in a very competitivemarket.
The Vietnam International Joint Stock CommercialBank (VIB) and Southeast Asia Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SeABank) haveannounced a free service policy for individual customers, for ATM withdrawalsand online internal and external money transfers, starting from this month.
At VIB, new customers will be free to transfermoney online and to withdraw money at 17,000 ATMs nationwide, regardless ofinternal or external network, for six months after opening the account.
The fee waiver also applies to existing VIBpayment accounts that have been open for less than six months.
For older accounts, VIB will waive the two feesand the fee at the counter if the average account balance in the last sixmonths reaches 5 million VND or more. These waivers exclude internationaltransaction.
Meanwhile, at SeABank, the free-of-chargeprogramme has been applied to all new customers and existing customers with SeANet/SeAMobile services such as free internal and external money transfer forcustomers using the services.
Last year, Techcombank also applied a e-bankingwith zero VND programme called F@st Ebank for corporatecustomers after successfully luring a large number of individual customers inthe wake of free transfer programmes for all online transactions via thebank’s F@st I-bank and F@st mobile.
Banking expert Bui Quang Tin said the freeprogrammes would help banks attract customers.
A Nielsen report on personal finance also showedalong with convenience, ease and speed, transaction fees are a factor customerscare the most about when banking. Free transactions help customer reducesignificant monthly fees and makes them feel comfortable in using the services.
As for banks, Tin said free transactions wouldhelp them attract and create a large customer base to promote cross-sellingproducts and services, such as lending and bancassurance.
In the case of Techcombank, for example, itsnumber of new customers last year increased by 87 percent over the previousyear.
The rapid increase in the number of newcustomers also means a large amount of money is circulated through banks. As aresult, the banks will attract a large amount of current account savingsaccount (CASA) with low interest rates, creating a low-cost capital source.
The free services policy has also contributed tosurging Techcombank’s services income. The bank’s income from payment servicesand cash by the end of last year increased by 81 percent against 2016 to 508billion VND (21.8 million USD). Its net profit in this segment also increasedby more than 32 percent to 306 billion VND.
With the success, it is forecast that more bankswill introduce free services policies, which will bring more benefits tocustomers.-VNA
VNA
