NBM plc Marketing and Corporate Affairs Manager, Akossa Hiwa

Listed National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc has introduced an initiative called ‘Know your Tariff Thursday’ where every Thursday the bank shares a snippet of its tariff charges to keep the public informed of various charges it charges on its products and services.

NBM plc Marketing and Corporate Affairs Manager Akossa Hiwa said in an interview yesterday that they realized that some customers do not take time out to read the full sheet of charges which they publish normally in national newspapers and later complain of the charges that were initially communicated to them.

“NBM plc publishes its tariff sheet as per Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) mandate twice a year. In addition to the traditional print newspaper publishing, tariff information is made available through posters put up in all NBM plc Service Centres, on the NBM plc website and links to the information on the website shared on NBM plc social media pages.”

“However, in spite of this availability of information, we noted an increasing number of enquiries from our customers on Bank charges registered through the different touch-points that we have. To address this, we introduced the #Know Your Tariff Thursday initiative earlier this year to help keep our existing and prospective clients well informed on various charges in bite size pieces,” said Hiwa.

“We hope to create enhanced awareness and engagement through the #Know Your Tariff Thursday initiative as content shared through social media leaves room for customer conversations on either specific or related issues. The Bank values this meaningful feedback which is a launchpad for customer driven initiatives. This initiative has helped in highlighting critical bank charges in digestible form,” added Hiwa.

She said additionally, personal (retail) and corporate tariff booklets are made available to the Bank’s employees, with the intention of ensuring that front-liners relay the same to the Bank’s customers.  

Reacting to the initiative, RBM Spokesman Ralph Tseka said as a regulator, RBM has welcomed the initiative.

“This is a very welcome development as it will complement the Registrar's efforts of ensuring that financial consumers are aware of the bank's tariffs and charges in line with the Registrar's Disclosure Regulatory Requirements.  We would, however, wish to encourage customers to take keen interest in reading these messages so that they are aware of their bank's tariffs,” said Tseka.