Here’s why all of us will be paying for MOBILE BANKING soon

Recently, clients of one of the larger banks in Serbia have been notified that in future they will be charged fees for bills paid with mobile or electronic banking. This caused dissatisfaction not only among users of that bank, who will pay RSD 19 per transaction, but also among clients of the banks where this service is still free of charge, as they wonder when they will come in line. Anyway, the use of electronic and mobile banking is experiencing an incredible expansion in the last two to three years, both in terms of number of users and transactions, as well as their value, the „Danas“ daily newspaper reports. When electronic banking commenced in our country, bankers, eager to get their clients out of banks and thus reduce costs (following the global financial crisis, closing of branch offices and a decrease in the number of employees in the banking sector is noticeable) advertised e-banking and offered a free payment service. For a single household, that pays around ten bills a month, for utilities, telephone, kindergarten, etc. with a commission of, for example, RSD 45 a bill, which is the commission in post offices, costs of payment transactions exceed RSD5,000 a year. If we look at the balance sheets of the banking sector in recent years, we will see stagnation or even a decline in interest income, which banks mostly compensate with increased revenues from commissions. At the same time, based on the net revenue from commissions and fees, banks earned EUR 341.4 million in 2018, which is as much as 18% more than in 2015, when they generated EUR 289.3 million. Given the fact that the National Bank of Serbia cut its benchmark interest rate twice this year, which should have an effect of decrease in interest rates on RSD loans, and that both the European Central Bank and the US Fed have reinstated the interest rate reductions, which again should additionally devalue money and bring down interest rates, it is obvious that banks will not see too much profit from the interest rates in the next few years as well.

Izvor: Danas

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