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Japan’s banking industry and financial regulators have announced being in the final stages of talks on reducing interbank money transfer fees for the first time in 40 years.
Current fee rates for interbank EFT (electronic fund transfers) stand at USD 1 for transfers of less than USD 276 and USD 1.49 for transfers of USD 276 or more. Ongoing discussions are to reduce the rate to around USD 0.56.
Japan’s interbank funds transfer system is referred to as the Zengin System, operated by the Japanese Banks’ Payment Clearing Network. Last year, Japan’s FTC (Fair Trade Commission) investigated how banks decide their fees for customers using the Zengin System.
In a report published at the time, the FTC said the “set and forget” attitude toward interbank EFT charges raised questions about governance and transparency deficiencies in the financial industry. According to reports, the FTC believes high remittance fees could interfere with the distribution of cashless payments and other new services in Japan.
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