The President of the Retailers Association of Fiji says he hopes the public can now have more of a say and greater understanding of the country's banking system.
Himmat Lodhia's comments follow announcements by the Reserve Bank of Fiji last week for new guidelines on the establishment of a Local Advisory Board and Complaints Management as well as a policy to boost small and less privileged future businessmen in the rural sectors.
Mr Lodhia says the public and business communities have always complained of rip-offs by the banks for charging high or unnecessary fees and also for large margins in the interest spread.
He is hoping the new guidelines will lead to the regulation of banking fees and for complaints to be heard and resolved positively.
"For instance one of the banks has just announced they're going to charge money for counting your money. And also if you're going to be taking cash, say if you were taking 5,000 dollars, they would deduct 50 dollars off that, which means you only get 4,950 dollars in your bank account. And if you're going to withdraw a similar amount, they'll also charge you another 50 dollars. So these are the type of things that we are up against."
Himmat Lodhia from the Retailers Association of Fiji.
