The exemption Electronic Funds Trans­fer at Point of Sale (EFTPOS) fees that came in effective yesterday is a win-win situations for Banks and customers.

This is in line with Government’s initiative in the 2018-2019 National Budget to help Fiji­ans embrace electronic forms of payment and allow banks to offer free EFTPOS purchase transactions chargers for ATM access card holders.

Previously people using your debit cards were normally charged 40 cents while the bank charges the vendor (supermarket or any shop) 30 cents on each transaction.

Comments from Banks

ANZ Bank was the first to adopt this initia­tive last month and this has seen a positive feedback from it customers.

ANZ Fiji Country Head Saud Minam said the bank was more focused on the digitisation of the banking system and this initiative would help the bank achieve that.

“There are two ways of looking at things; we need to look at it in a bigger perspective of how we are moving toward a more digital world,” Mr Minam said.

“We need to look at it in a way of providing customer services all across Fiji, this service will a great opportunity for everyone to start carrying less cash.

“We began last December and our customers love it and it is an advantage to the consumers and that is what we are striving for.

“Having recently launched our ANZ Pacific application which provides the banking facili­ties on our mobile phones people move out of writing cheques and moving toward a digital world.”

Bank of the South Pacific’s (BSP) chief fi­nancial officer Rajeshwar Singh said, “BSP are definitely supporting the initiative by the Government to have a cashless society and all banks are and will encourage people to carry less cash and use their cards more frequently.

“There was ample time given to all the banks and we have also relooked at how well and how best we can serve our customers and making sure that customers have value for money.”

In an earlier statement, Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission (FCCC) chief ex­ecutive officer Joel Abraham commended the move by Government which is expected to benefit thousands of Fijians.

Mr Abraham said people could now shop us­ing debit cards without the burden of added transaction costs which results in more sav­ings for.

FCCC, through its monitoring, will check which businesses do not have point of sale machines and provide guidance on how they can improve their systems.

The move to remove EFTPOS fees comple­ments FCCC’s efforts in ensuring that busi­nesses comply with the issuance of item­ised receipts.

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