Fin24 reports that Capitec bank still reigns supreme when it comes to bank charges related to personal transaction accounts, but competition is tight.  

This is according to the Solidarity Research Institute’s (SRI’s) Bank Charges Report for 2017, which considers the major personal transactional accounts of the five major banks operating in SA.  Gerhard van Onselen, economics researcher at SRI, commented:  “The Big Four banks have little room to increase fees at the lower end of the market, and this is owed to the sustained pressure from Capitec’s offer.  The banks also cannot allow the gap between the bundle accounts, marketed at middle income groups, and the cheaper accounts to get too big.  Otherwise they run the risk that clients may shift to the cheaper options or simply move to competitors.”  The research looked in detail at account options across three categories, namely, low income, basic banking needs; middle class income, sophisticated banking needs; and higher middle class income, sophisticated banking needs.

• Read this report by Lameez Omarjee in full at Fin24
• Read the SRI’s press release and access the full report at Solidarity online

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page