The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) in St. Kitts released a notice stating; all Licensed Financial Institutions (LFIs) governed under the Banking Act of 2015 are being encouraged to make basic bank accounts available to their customers which went into effective as of December 1^st, 2024.

ECCB defines a basic bank account as a savings account that is free to open; does not attract charges for the making of deposits or withdrawals; amasses interest; is not subjected to a minimum balance; may be subject to a maximum balance; and does not have an associated chequing or overdraft facility.

This notice followed National Bank’s announcement that effective November 1st, 2024, a new fee would be introduced. This comes as an account maintenance fee, where if an account has less than $100 EC, a $5.00 + VAT monthly charge will be added.

On November 30^th, 2024, accounts under $100 were in fact charged, causing uproar from customers and widespread concern among the federation.

This prompted National Bank to issue a notice on Saturday, December 1^st, stating:

“We are pleased to inform you, our valued customers, that the issue of service charges erroneously applied to some accounts have been rectified.

Please note that charges that were applied to Horizon and Future Planner Accounts have been reversed. In addition, charges applied to regular savings accounts that maintained a minimum balance of $100 were also reversed.