Absa Bank Kenya PLC is planning to increase the monthly maintenance fees it charges merchants and personal account holders for using their accounts.
Have an Absa Ultimate Account? The bank now charges Ksh710 per month—up from the Ksh690 it has been charging customers since the end of the COVID period.
“Our Absa customers are hereby informed of the tariff changes below, as approved by the Central Bank of Kenya, on some of our products, effective November 7, 2024,” announced the lender, formerly Barclays Bank Kenya. The Pepea Bank Account Maintenance Fee is also set to increase from Ksh190 to Ksh200 per month, and the Bank Account Plus Maintenance Fee will rise from Ksh440 to Ksh460 monthly.
> Equitel Withdrawal Charges to Mpesa and Other Fees in Kenya – 2024
Similar changes will apply to fees that are automatically withdrawn each month from Absa Personal Current Accounts, it said.
As Absa Bank Kenya is looking for almost any nugget of income to help offset huge loan losses and lower revenue amid reduced consumer spending, the outcome is a quiet creep of new charges and higher fees for everything from monthly service fees and cash withdrawals at ATMs of other banks (now raised from Ksh200 to Ksh220 per transaction) to the introduction of new banding and charges in its PesaLink bank-to-bank transfers to reflect the trend.
Old Absa Bank PesaLink charges
| Band | Charges |
| Ksh10 – Ksh500 | Ksh0 |
| Ksh501 – Ksh10,000 | Ksh50 |
| Ksh10,001 – Ksh50,000 | Ksh50 |
| Ksh50,001 – Ksh100,000 | Ksh60 |
| Ksh100,001 – Ksh200,000 | Ksh70 |
| Ksh200,001 – Ksh999,999 | Ksh100 |
New Absa PesaLink transaction fees 2024-25
| Transaction band | New charges 2024 |
| Ksh10 – Ksh500 | Free |
| Ksh501 – Ksh1,000 | Ksh50 |
| Ksh1,001 – Ksh5,000 | Ksh60 |
| Ksh5,001 – Ksh10,000 | Ksh70 |
| Ksh10,001 – Ksh50,000 | Ksh80 |
| Ksh50,001 – Ksh100,000 | Ksh120 |
| Ksh100,001 – Ksh200,000 | Ksh150 |
| Ksh200,001 – Ksh500,000 | Ksh180 |
| Ksh500,001 – Ksh999,999 | Ksh220 |
Absa Bank Kenya has also raised its Current Account transaction fee from Ksh50 to Ksh53 per transaction, and the cash handling charges for local business customers have increased by 0.01% to 0.22% per transaction.
> Panic Withdrawals Hit First Community Bank – How it Happened
Leave a comment