South Africa’s banks will waive the Saswitch fee, a fee that customers pay for using other banks’ ATMs, for two months from 1 August 2021. The banks came to an agreement for the waiver with the Banking Association of South Africa (BASA) this week, in response to the recent civil unrest, when some ATMs in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal were damaged and are currently not available for use.
However, Standard Bank has announced that it will drop these fees permanently.
“We understand that some of our clients are adversely affected by the unavailability of the damaged ATMs and believe that the bank needs to provide a longer-term relief than the agreed-upon two months Saswitch fee waiver,” says Kabelo Makeke, head of consumer and high net worth clients at Standard Bank. “We had already permanently removed the Saswitch fee in January when we implemented our new pricing for this year”.
Standard Bank also reduced ATM cash withdrawal fees from 1 January 2021.
“The removal of the Saswitch fee creates greater access to cash for our customers during this difficult period in South Africa. This should prove to be extremely useful and convenient to our customers in Gauteng and KZN, who may have found themselves cut off from access to cash and other banking services. Our customers are urged to use any available ATM cash points to withdraw cash for a flat fee of R10 per R1,000 drawn,” says Makeke.
Standard Bank customers have got access to a Saswitch network of more than 20,000 ATMs from which to transact. In addition, cash withdrawals can still be made at Standard Bank ATMs and a wide retailer partner network, like Pick n Pay, Builders, Cambridge Food, Checkers and Spar.
Cash deposits can be made at Pick n Pay or Shoprite stores anywhere in the country.