In January-February 1999, the banks raised their commissions by 2% in real terms. Bank of Israel will restrict the commission for annulling a standing order to NIS 5 instead of the present NIS 15.
For the most frequent banking services, the First International Bank charges the lowest commissions out of the five large banks. Bank Leumi charges the highest. This emerges from the comparative data of the five large banks’ commissions index, published today by Bank of Israel’s Supervision of Banks department. The commissions index reflects the average cost of the twelve most frequently used bank services.
Bank of Israel says it is acting to reinstate control over the commission for annulling standing orders for making various payments. Bank of Israel intends to set a maximum ceiling of just NIS 5 for this commission, in lieu of the NIS 15 charged today.
The figures show that in January-February 1999, the banks raised their commissions by 2% in real terms, compared to the second half of 1998. Last year, the commission index was eroded in real terms by 1.7% on average, mainly due to the accelerated inflation in the second half of the year.
Published by Israel's Business Arena February 23, 1999