The previous column on October 31 (`Bank profit and interest rate: the Brassington thesis’) noted that fee incomes comprise the third largest source of income for the overall commercial banking sector in Guyana. Interest income from loans and the mark-up from foreign exchange trading are the first and second largest sources of income, respectively.
Recently the Bank of Guyana (BoG) proposed to regulate fee incomes – of which there are various kinds, such as ATM fees, a dormant account penalty fee, wire transfer fees, bill payment fees, and requested statement fees. No one knows for certain what are the potential implications of the standardisation of fees. Does the regulation result in an overall improvement after adding up the winners and losers?
