KATHMANDU: The fee for withdrawing money from another bank’s ATM has been waived permanently.

The Department of Payment System of Nepal Rastra Bank has made such an arrangement by issuing an integrated circular in the name of the institution licensed to operate the payment service on Friday.

Earlier, the NRB had taken the policy of providing such service free of cost for the transition period during the lockdown period.

After this arrangement, there will be no charge for withdrawing money from any ATM in the country using the card issued by any bank or financial institution in Nepal.

But, the charges may apply in the transaction done from abroad.

Earlier, banks and financial institutions had been determining the service charges for domestic transactions. Some banks have been providing such services free of cost.

Similarly, NRB has said that the banks and financial institutions concerned should inform the user via SMS 15 days before the expiry of the card.

It has been said that the fee for ATM card renewal should also be mentioned while giving such information.

It has also been clarified that a bank and financial institution cannot issue more than one card in the name of the same customer.

The provision has also been made to keep the name and mobile number of the concerned person at the ATM counter so that the representative of the bank can be contacted immediately in case of any problem in the ATM.

NRB has made only minor changes in the limits of digital transactions. In the integrated directive, a monthly limit of Rs 4,00,000 has been set for the payment made by purchasing goods and services from debit card.

There was no such limit before. The previous limit of Rs 25,000 per transaction and Rs 100,000 per day has been kept unchanged.

Apart from banks, other payment service providers will also be able to issue prepaid cards up to Rs 25,000. Earlier, such institutions were not allowed to issue prepaid cards.

However, when banks and financial institutions are allowed to issue cards up to Rs 1,00,000, a limit of Rs 25,000 has been set for such institutions.

The maximum monthly turnover limit of Rs 500,000 has also been kept unchanged.

The limit of Rs 25,000 per transaction, Rs 100,000 per day and Rs 500,000 per month has been fixed for payment from bank account to wallet, from wallet to bank account and from wallet to wallet.