Bank Windhoek announces new banking fee structure

Bank Windhoek?s pricing philosophy of providing their clients with value for their money was a key driver in the annual review of our fees, and therefore the increases were designed to be in line with the market inflation expectation for 2012.

?Bank Windhoek, like any other business, incurs fixed and variable costs in the delivery of service to its clients. Bank Windhoek is not isolated from external price increases in rates, taxes and services. In addition, there were increases in operational and staff costs, the cost of expanding and upgrading our branch and ATM infrastructure across Namibia, the cost of transporting and safeguarding cash and continuous investments in our systems to ensure that our service delivery to clients is maintained. All these costs were taken into consideration in our annual fee review.

Bank Windhoek nevertheless decided to continue with the trend not to increase its fees across the board, and also did not apply the same percentage fee increase to all its products and services.

Many fees that have been free of charge up to now, remains free of charge,? commented Christo de Vries, Managing Director of Bank Windhoek. Bank Windhoek aims to offer convenient banking services to its clients through its extensive network of branches, agencies, ATMs and other channels such as Cellphone Banking, Internet Banking and its Point-of- Sale devices. Bank Windhoek is proud to offer the lowest Point-of-Sale purchase (transaction) fees in the market and to offer the services of its channels free of charge on some of our product range.

Good news for Bank Windhoek?s Solo clients (youth under the age of 19 years) is that Solo still offers free ATM withdrawals at Bank Windhoek ATMs and free Pointof- Sale transactions. There will still also be no monthly service fee charged for these young clients. Bank Windhoek?s SeniorSave clients (clients aged 55 years and older) do not pay a monthly service fee and continue to benefit from free ATM withdrawals at Bank Windhoek ATMs and free Point-of-Sale transactions.

?EasySave remains Bank Windhoek?s most affordable transaction account for low-income earners. We support the Bank of Namibia?s initiative on the introduction of a Basic Bank Account and will make an announcement in this regard very soon,? the bank said.

In an effort to encourage saving and investments, Bank Windhoek is pleased to announce that GroupSave clients (a unique savings product for a group of people that wish to save together) will continue to pay no monthly service fees and no commission or fees are charged from Bank Windhoek?s SureSave account holders.

Bank Windhoek?s Vibe and Transaction account clients will still benefit from free automatic life cover which is payable to their beneficiaries upon their death.

?We remain committed to give our clients the best advice on using their bank accounts as efficiently and effectively as possible, thereby contributing to the overall improvement of financial literacy in Namibia.

Bank Windhoek is therefore also an active supporter of the Namibia Financial Literacy Initiative which was launched in March 2012. As the financial partner of our clients, we want our clients to make informed decisions when managing their bank accounts and using our products and services as ultimately, we aim to make banking easy and accessible,? said De Vries.

A notice in all their branches and agencies will display the maximum annual fees and charges. The main fees and charges of Bank Windhoek will also be available in brochure format.

Both the notice and the brochurewill be published on the bank?s website at www.bankwindhoek. com.na Clients are encouraged to contact their nearest Bank Windhoek branch, should they have any specific enquiry regarding the adjustment of the bank?s fees on 1 July 2012.