Kralendijk – Both private and business customers will soon be confronted with new fees at the counters of the Maduro & Curiëlsbank Bonaire.

Starting October 1, 2019, customers withdrawing or depositing money at the counter will 1 onward, be charged 1% of the amount to be deposited or withdrawn, with a minimum of 5 dollars.

Because the 1% fee also applies to companies, which usually deposit larger amounts than private customers, the MCB points out to business customers that they can avoid this charge by using the so-called 24/7 Deposit system.

Business customers can purchase bags for this at the MCB. According to the bank, 50 bags cost $20, or 40 cents per bag/deposit made.

Private customers have the option to make deposits via the ‘Bankomatiko’ ATM, which is free of charge. In addition, the MCB exempts customers 60 years and older from the new fees.

Discouraging transactions at the counter

According to the MCB, the introduction of the fees is necessary to ‘discourage’ certain actions at the counter. Apart from the fact that the measures will lead to more efficiency on the bank’s side, the waiting times in the branches will also be shorter, simply because fewer customers will be waiting in line to be helped.

The MCB still has 2 branches on the island, namely the in the center of Kralendijk and the branch in Hato. The latter is currently being converted into a so-called ‘SMART’ branch, where the intention is for the customer to perform more actions himself and who lean more heavily on the technology than is the case in traditional branches.

The introduction of similar fees a few months ago in Curaçao, led to much resistance from customers. After quite some negative publicity the bank reversed several of the announced fees. On Bonaire, based on the information provided by MCB’s communications department, the intention to implement the new charges remains unchanged.