Customers of at least two banks in Belize have expressed concern over a new service charge that has emerged at the banks. One caller during Wave's Fus Thing da Mawning expressed his sentiment saying that two banks, namely the Belize Bank and First Caribbean International are charging a fee to have Belize currency changed into smaller denominations of Belize currency.
The Guardian spoke to country manager for First Caribbean Bank, Glen Smith, who explained that his bank only applies the charge of 1% when making charge from notes to coins. He told us that its called a coin-handling fee and is really applied to defray expenses that the bank incurs when moving coins to the bank. He said that over time the cost of moving coins has gone up and the charge is the way by which the bank tries to recover some of its expenses. There is no charge by the bank when making change from larger notes to smaller ones.
The Guardian