Banks Are exploiting Kenyans

International Banks, viz Barclays, Standard and Stanbic have moved to fleece small Kenyan depositors. This is aimed at meeting their overseas head offices profit targets and Africa has been earmarked as the least regulated in terms of profiteering and thus where the bulk of their profits have to come from. The issue is further compounded by the slowdown of western economies thus leaving the developing countries as the only avenue available for exploitation. The big banks are the only ones which have been reporting profits while most other companies have reported losses in the past three years.

 As an example, one bank has made the following revisions to its charges: Between October 2001 and January 2002, the charges for ATM withdrawals were increased by a whooping 67% in relative terms. Even looking at inflation in that period, it is not possible to explain such a huge increase. 

Between January 2002 and August 2002, standing order charges doubled. It is hard to believe that the effort to effect an instruction had doubled over such a period of time. Ledger fees have been increased by 44.4% in February 2003 again begging the question as to how this adjustment was arrived at. Counter withdrawal charges were introduced of Kshs 500 per visit. 

The charges in other countries in the region are in the region of Kshs 120. Be it that banking is a profession but the bank teller is very low in the hierarchy. To charge Kshs 500 for a transaction that takes on average 10 minutes is daylight robbery. In simple terms, a paying teller earns the bank approximately Kshs 24,000 per day which translates to Kshs 528,000 per month. I wonder how much they are paid! A new charge of 0.15% was introduced on deposits, a practice not known before. This charge is irrespective of the amount deposited presupposing that the level of effort increases with the amount deposited. This is a fallacy.

Behold those who like innovation. Access to your balance over the internet has been attracting a charge of Kshs 1,000. It will now attract a charge of Kshs 5,000 (or 400% increase). This in a time when other online service charges are dropping. Individual complaints by customers are not entertained because as usual the banks have us where they want us, between a rock and a hard place. Put your money in a local bank and you most likely lose it (all the collapsed banks like Exchange and Euro Banks in Kenya bear testimony to this) or put it in a big bank and all of it disappears in all manner of charges.

 More hurting is the fact that employers require you to give them a bank account number to send your pay. Even City Council workers, some of whom earn peanuts, are paid through the bank. Can you guess how much they take home? Withdraw everything and your account attracts punitive charges.

Huh! THIS IS INTENDED TO BE A PROTEST TO THE ABOVE EXPLOITATIVE BANKS BY ALL SMALL DEPOSITORS WHO ACCOUNT FOR THE MAJORITY OF THEIR FUNDS. PLEASE REGISTER YOUR PROTEST BY COPYING THIS E-MAIL TO THEM AT THEIR GIVEN E-MAIL ADDRESSES. ALSO, FORWARD TO AS MANY OF YOUR FRIENDS AS POSSIBLE AND LET'S PROTEST TOGETHER AS KENYANS BEFORE WE ARE ROBBED OF EVERYTHING THAT WE HAVE WORKED SO HARD FOR. OTHER PLANS TO COUNTER THIS EXPLOITATION INCLUDES A PROTEST BY THE KCO. SAY NO TO PROFITEERS WHATEVER THEY LOOK LIKE.