Windhoek
FNB Namibia is currently testing new Cash Deposit Taking ATM’s, that are able to take cash deposits in real-time and make it available as soon as the customer wants to withdraw.
This means ATM cash deposits will be cleared and made available on the customer’s account immediately and not only after 24 hours as before, said Sarel van Zyl, CEO of FNB Namibia.
“These machines are currently being tested in the ATM Lobby of the FNB Windhoek branch and the plan is to introduce 30 more across the country during the next year,” Van Zyl said.
The bank also reiterated that, as in the past, July 1 was the effective date of FNB’s annual price review.
Cash-based transactions remain expensive for the bank to offer and as such, FNB had no option but to increase fees on these transactions as part of its 2015/16 pricing review, he said.
“With this in mind and in keeping with our strategy of migrating customers to transact on electronic and digital self-service channels, FNB remains pro-active in encouraging customers to look for alternatives to cash-based banking, such as using their card to pay for goods and services where possible and to use channels, such as FNB Online Banking, Cellphone Banking and the FNB Banking App, Van Zyl said.
“We encourage customers to, as far as possible, make use of FNB ATMs when withdrawing cash, as the use of another bank’s ATMs for these transactions are charged at a premium.”
FNB is also announced that the increase in bank fees has been minimised for lower-and middle-income customers.
The CardWise Zero Account will remain the cheapest transactional account, with zero monthly account fees and is available to all individuals earning up to N$24,000 per year.
A free savings pocket, called Bank-Your-Change, is also available and offers competitive interest rates dependent on the balance in the account. Bank Your Change can be linked to CardWise, or any transactional account offered by FNB and will automatically save your leftover cents when you use your Debit Card to pay for goods and services.
The CEO further explained that inContact, FNB’s messaging service and Prepaid Electricity Purchases would remain free on all electronic channels, while Cellphone Banking (fnbna.mobi) and the FNB Banking App remain cost-effective banking channels.
“We will also continue to offer customers access to electronic channels like Online, Cellphone, the FNB App and FNBna.mobi at a zero monthly account fee,” van Zyl concluded.