JCP criticizes major banks for simultaneously increasing fees paid by customers

The Japanese Communist Party in the Diet protested at the extraordinary fee a major bank is going to charge for its money-changing service, saying that a person will have to pay 200 yen to break 100-yen coins.

Sasaki Kensho of the JCP said the government is to blame for urging banks to maintain profitability in order to dispose of their bad loans as quickly as possible.

When Sasaki explained the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi's new business of money exchange fees in the February 24 House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting, those attending the meeting were surprised, and Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro said that such a business practice is unusual.

Sasaki blamed major banks for simultaneously increasing fees for using ATMs on weekends and money exchange machines, as well as balance certificate issuance.

In the last ten years at major banks, interest payments to depositors have considerably decreased while the percentage of fees and charges in their current income has been more than tripled.

Sasaki stated that the government is responsible for the situation because it is instructing banks, to which public money are injected, to increase fees and charges as part of a program for sound management.

Japan Fair Trade Commission Chair Takeshima Kazuhiko said that it will have a hearing on four major banks, and if it is found that they formed a cartel, the commission will deal with the matter as a violation of antitrust laws. (end)