A notice from Citibank appears to indicate that the RM1 MEPS fee for all ATM interbank cash withdrawals may be reinstated on 1 February 2022.

Introduced on 6 April 2020 shortly after the first Movement Control Order (MCO) commenced in Malaysia, the RM1 waiver was meant to encourage people to move only within nearby areas during the MCO and utilise any bank’s ATM to withdraw cash. When it was announced by then-Defence Minister and current Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob, he stated that this waiver will continue until the end of the MCO period.

Now that the various MCOs have been lifted and SOPs updated under the National Recovery Plan, and with most of the country open once again, it appears that the RM1 MEPS fee for interbank cash withdrawals at all ATMs in Malaysia may be reinstated once again. Citibank’s notice reads:

Dear valued customers,
Reinstatement of RM1 Interbank Cash Withdrawal Fee
• Effective 1 February 2022, Debit & ATM Cardholders will be charged RM1.00 fee for each interbank cash withdrawal at an ATM of another bank.
• Citibank Debit & ATM Cardholders can continue to perform cash withdrawal transactions at Citibank ATMs at no charge.

Based on the choice of words, there is a strong suggestion that the fee will not be limited only at Citibank ATMs. However, PayNet’s website as well as several other bank websites and social media pages we checked have not mentioned a similar announcement. We have contacted Citibank via its Facebook page for further information but have not yet received a response, but we will continue to keep a look out for further updates.

(Source: Citibank)

• TAGS:
• ATM Withdrawals
• Citibank
• Covid-19
• MEPS
• Movement Control Order