Zeev Klein
The average bank commission index for the five major banks rose 2.5% in real terms in the past year. Most of the rise in the index, which covers 13 main types of transactions, stems from the banks' increased commissions, beyond the CPI.
The Bank of Israel Supervision of Banks department reported today that commissions with particularly sharp increases were: account transactions, fixed account management fees for both individuals and businesses, over-the-counter payment of bills, post-dated check deposits, exchange rate fees and fees charged for bounced checks.
United Mizrahi Bank charges the lowest commissions for bank services of the five major banks. The bank raised the number of monthly non-commission transactions from five to seven and reduced commission on buying and selling securities for sums of up to NIS 10,000. The bank charges 0.6%, compared with 0.75% at the other banks.
Bank Hapoalim is the most expensive bank for banking services. The bank decided to reduce the number of monthly non-commission transactions from five to only three.
Bank of Israel data show that the commissions index at United Mizrahi Bank fell 1.3% in real terms from the first half of 1995 to July 2001. This was the sharpest decline among the five major banks during this period. Israel Discount Bank posted the highest increase (in real terms) -
6.3%.
The average bank commission index for the five major banks represents the 13 most frequent types of banking services, judged by their weight in the banks' total revenues. The index reflects the cost of commissions for banking services to individual and small business customers, and does not cover all customers.
The commissions included in the index are: issuing personal checks, transaction recording, private account management fees, overdraft management fees, over-the-counter payment of bills, post-dated check deposits, exchange rate fees, fees for bounced checks, securities and trading, statements and other account information requests, and annual credit card fees.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 6 August, 2001