Many consumers in Turkey have been complaining about the high fees and commission incurred from national banking services. The Turkish government is responding to the public complaints, as they announced a new scheme to regulate these banking fees, reports Hurriyet Daily News. As a partial solution, they announced that a new watchdog would be implemented to help regulate and monitor the Turkish banking system.
“Hereafter the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) will set the noninterest revenues of the banks,” said Hayati Yazici, customers and trade minister, according to Hurriyet Daily News.
The total costs from bank fees and commissions from loans amounted to over 19.2 billion liras in noninterest income in 2012, which was an increase from the 17.1 billion liras collected from the previous year. Credit card fees resulted in a total of 4.4 billion liras in 2012, and bank charges collected 14.8 billion liras from customers. Needless to say, Turkish consumers were not pleased.
The Turkish government explained that although there was no way to completely eradicate the banks’ fees and commissions, limitations on pricing could be expected.
“Regarding credit card fees there will be a free plain card for the banking consumers who want neither partial payment, nor points. But others will pay card fees,” Yazici stated.
The new BDDK will be responsible for playing the regulatory role in watching over banking service fees and commissions, and will soon present the ceiling price for all banks. After this number is announced, banks will not be allowed to charge above this price. Banks must adhere to the new law, but how they choose to alter that price for competitive reasons is arbitrary.
The Turkish Parliament is working on developing the regulation draft and expects the issue date to be May 2013.
To read the full story at Hurriyet Daily News click here.
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