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.

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Similar changes will apply to fees that are automatically withdrawn each month from Absa Personal Current Accounts, it said.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.

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