Dubai: The key factor governing grievances over bank charges is a communication gap, say analysts.
"Hidden cost," says Saurabh Yadav, senior business analyst at GRMC Advisory Services, is what "banks levy on their products in the form of administrative and processing fees and so on which in some instances is not fully conveyed to the consumers.
Sales and customer care representatives are the primary channels through which consumers interact with the banks in the UAE. The majority are not directly employed by the banks but by various outsourced companies.
"Monthly commission accounts for a significant share of their monthly remuneration, and thus [they] design their sales pitch in such a manner that the customer is informed in a way pertinent to the benefits rather then the entire package," says Yadav.
In many cases "the information about the product or service as utilized by the customer is limited to what has been communicated by the sales representative," Yadav adds. "[They] blindly rely on information provided by the representatives, and thus are sometimes unpleasantly surprised when certain charges are levied."
One reason for such unprofessional sales behaviour can be attributed to the intense competition among the retail banks.
"Banking products have to be designed in such a manner [to be] more appealing," Yadav says. "Generally banks rely on these processing, maintenance and other fees to make up for the [tendency for] reduction in interest (credit cards), no annual fee, etc."
