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And while those Telecoms have the cash flow to handle that, many small businesses are saying they can’t afford to pay a slew of new banking fees that came into effect in June, or at the start of this month - depending on where you bank.  

The commercial banks are charging for use of the Automated Payments & Securities Settlement System, known as APSSS.  This is the system was was introduced with much fanfare in October 2016 - and enabled you to clear cheques and electronic payments across banks on the same day, rather than 48 to 72 hours.  But, it comes with a charge, and in April, the Central Bank announced that it has been bearing those costs for the past two and a half years.  And earlier this year, it asked the commercial banks to, quote, “contribute minimal fees for the processing of transactions through APSSS.â€￾

And indeed, looking at those fees, they weren’t that high: basic transactions for less than fifty thousand dollars would incur costs of 25 and 50 cents, or a dollar if its a cheque.

Of course, commercial banks - who never saw a fee they didn’t want to hike - not only passed those costs along, but multiplied them!  That’s right, the fees that the banks are charging you are three and four times what the Central Bank is charging them!

All transfers of funds from one bank to another attract the new charges, but those trusty cheques written from one bank and deposited at another, attract the highest charges - and the greater the value of the cheque, the higher the charge. It’s called an “inclearing cheque fee.â€￾  And, if you’re a business that makes a variety of payments as most businesses do, the only way to avoid it, really, is to open an account at every bank!  Which…isn’t very practical.