Bank of Maldives (BML) has decided to stop charging the cross-border fee previously applied when customers use their debit cards to withdraw cash from ATMs overseas, effective from tonight.
BML said that, following the decision, students studying abroad will be able to use the monthly USD 1,200 limit allocated for their living expenses and educational needs without any additional charges. The bank said this would provide relief to students studying overseas and their families.
An optional issuer fee, or cross-border fee, is a charge imposed by the bank that issued a card on foreign-currency transactions or transactions carried out outside the Maldives. When a transaction is made or cash is withdrawn using funds other than the base currency of the card or the linked account, the transaction has to be processed through international payment networks such as Visa or Mastercard.
To cover the costs associated with processing such transactions, banks charge a certain percentage of the transaction amount as an optional issuer fee. A cross-border fee is a charge imposed by banks worldwide on such transactions. BML has also been charging this fee on such transactions since the introduction of its card service, up to the present.