By Lazarus Nyagumbo.
“This morning I made a RTGS2000.00 online bank transfer to a local council paying for rates/bills.
I was charged RTGS30.00 bank charges and RTGS40.00 tax.
I am of the view that whilst these punitive levies are a disincentive to formal banking. They are unfair and expensive to depositors. Why should a depositor lose their money through these levies. This works against smart online banking as some may not be willing to pay or can’t afford leading to a significant proportion of the population being excluded from formal banking, left behind. This is bad for the individual economy, households economy, SMEs economy. This is bad for the banks and national economy because a huge amount of transactions will avoid and evade formal banking .
We know that banks are the oil of any economy. Let’s stop shooting ourselves in the leg or roasting the goose that lays golden eggs, depositors.
If we want to promote cashless society anchored on plastic and e-money, these levies must fall
It must be costless to transact from your office , home or transit, actually mitigating the Covid-19 pandemic spread, banking from a distance.
This money deposited in bank accounts have been already taxed via income tax, pension deductions, VAT among others.
These levies significantly reduces disposable incomes, investment, consumption, economic recovery growth and development.
Banks must remove these charges and come up with viable less damaging revenue streams, which promote formal banking, cashless society, e-money inclusion, leaving no one behind towards ZW MDGs.
London-based Economist Lazarus Nyagumbo (TLN Economics, 29/06/20)
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