The State Bank of India (SBI) on March 11 said it has waived off the maintenance of Average Monthly Balance (AMB) for all Savings Bank Accounts.
According to the lender, the initiative will further boost the efforts to promote ”Financial Inclusion” in the country.
The bank said in a release that the charges on maintaining AMB will now be waived off on all 44.51 crore savings bank accounts.
“Currently ‘‘SBI Savings Bank customers’’ need to maintain an Average Monthly Balance(AMB) of Rs 3,000, Rs 2,000 and Rs 1,000 in metro, semi urban and rural areas, respectively. Bank used to levy a penalty of Rs 5 to Rs 15 + taxes on non-maintenance of AMB,” the lender said in a statement.
Announcing the waiver, SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar said, “This announcement will bring in more smiles and delight to our valuable customers. Waiving AMB is SBI’s yet another initiative to provide customers with more convenience and elated banking experience. We believe this initiative would empower our customers towards banking with SBI and boost their confidence in SBI.”
The bank also waived the SMS charges levied on a quarterly basis. Henceforth, all SBI customers will now enjoy the Zero Balance facility in their accounts.
“Keeping in mind ‘Customers First’ approach, the bank has also waived of SMS charges. This move by the bank will bring significant relief to all the customer of the bank. Bank has also rationalized interest rate on SB Account to a flat 3 % p.a. for all buckets,” the release noted.
SBI is the largest commercial bank in terms of assets, deposits, branches, customers and employees.
It is also the largest mortgage lender in the country.