But, even with that gesture from the Central Bank, they had quite a time getting the Belize Bank to agree to cut its ATM fee in half. Currently, it's 50 cents per transaction, next year it's going down to 25 cents per.
We asked Michael about the negotiation:
Jules Vasquez
"It is the central bank's belief that these fees should be at no cost. But is it, we see that it is restricted at $0.25. Is this the product of a negotiation or a difficult back and forth with the banks?"
Kareem Michael, Governor, Central Bank
"Yes, it was certainly a difficult negotiation and the compromise was to have this $0.25 and then to have a transition period. You can imagine now how it cannot be so easily done to configure systems, software and even maybe update ATMs that are quite dated. So we want to make sure that we understand that we are somewhat flexible and that we can move towards this desired objective goal." Jules Vasquez
"So you expect that eventually it will be a flat line. That's $0.00?"
Kareem Michael, Governor, Central Bank
"I hope so. I think we will find a common ground eventually. There's always hope."
