State Bank of India (SBI) announced on Thursday that it has decided to waive maintenance of Average Monthly Balance (AMB) for all savings accounts. The charges on maintaining AMB have been waived off on all 44.51 crore SBI savings bank accounts, according to a press release by the bank. Currently, SBI Savings Bank customers need to maintain AMB of Rs 3000, Rs 2000 and Rs 1000 in Metro, Semi-Urban and Rural areas respectively. The bank used to levy a penalty of Rs 5 to Rs 15 + taxes on non-maintenance of AMB. The bank has also waived off SMS charges and has has also rationalised interest rate on savings bank accounts to a flat 3 per cent per annum for all buckets. Rajnish Kumar, Chairman, SBI announcing the waiver said, “This announcement will bring in more smiles and delight to our valuable customers. Waiving AMB is SBI’s yet another initiative to provide customers more convenience and elated banking experience. We believe this initiative would empower our customers towards banking with SBI and boost their confidence in SBI.”
