The National Australia Bank is to raise the fees charged to business customers for processing over-the-counter and paper-based transactions in an effort to encourage take-up of lower-cost online channels.
The National Australia Bank says it will introduce a flat fee structure for its business transaction accounts in April, rolling four separate charges into a single monthly fee. Under the changes, customers will have unlimited electronic transactions (Internet banking including BPay, telephone banking, Eftpos, periodical payments, direct debit or direct credit) as well as National ATM transactions.
The new fee structure will also involve an increase for over-the-counter (OTC) transactions costs as well as non-OTC (cheque and EBD), in a shift which explicitly acknowledges the higher cost of processing paper documents.
Paul Clark, general manager of the National's business financial services says the new fee structure will encourage customers to change their transaction behaviour.
He says: "It is important to acknowledge the change in banking patterns and we are certainly encouraging customers through active pricing to use lower cost banking channels."