It costs your bank no more than 10 cents  to process the withdrawal you make from an ATM is doesn’t own.

Yet some banks have been charging you up to $4, for that privilege.

The Reserve Bank is not impressed.

And it wants to see more – and more effective – competition.

It explained exactly what it intends to do, in a press release which you can see on its website, at www.rba.gov.au.

There are no surprises.

Its final objectives, set out in its latest Access Regime, are basically similar to those it first aired in December.

This time, though, the  Reserve Bank will be putting its reforms  into effect from March 3.

The central bank was blunt about its objectives.

“…in the board’s view there should be no foreign fees,” it declared.

The reforms will:-

• make the cost of cash withdrawals more transparent to cardholders and place downward pressure on the cost of ATM withdrawals.
• help to ensure continued widespread availiability of ATMs by creating incentives to deploy in a wide variety of locations, providing consumers with choice and convenience.
• promote competition between financial institutions and
• make access less complicated for new entrants.