Chennai, July 1 (PTI) Equitas Small Finance Bank on Thursday said it has waived the non-maintenance charges across CASA accounts, making it one of the first private sector banks to launch the initiative aimed at benefiting small businesses hit by COVID-19. "Considering the current scenario of the pandemic, this announcement will empower the account holders to bank stress-free.

Equitas SFB will be one among the first private sector banks to waive off NMC across CASA (current account, savings account), thereby making banking simple and limitless", the city-based bank said in a statement. Aimed at providing hassle-free banking experience to customers, the bank said paying penalty for one's own account creates large level dissatisfaction among account holders.

The bank has addressed this by waiving the non maintenance charges across CASA.

However, it said the transactions would be charged if balance falls below 75 percent of the requirement and hence accommodating customers for months with low turnover and ensuring complete support to businesses.

"This combination of waiver of non-maintenance charges and free transaction limits will be of immense advantage to entrepreneurs, traders, self-employed professionals and small businesses impacted during the COVID-19..," the statement said.

Customers with low transaction intensity and high liquidity can avail Sweep-in and Sweep-Out FD facility, enabling the current account holders to earn from the idle funds, it added.

The bank's senior president and country head, (branch banking liabilities product and wealth), Murali Vaidyanathan said, "At Equitas SFB, we do regular quality checks to cross-check if our product portfolios and designs are working towards its goal to provide our customers with convenience, safety and also financial well being.

We have modified our existing product design, considering the prevailing situation, thus coming up with optimal pricing platform solution, which is the need of the hour to mitigate the impact of crisis."

The waiver of non-maintenance charges was a crucial step forward to aid customers in strengthening their finance resilience, he said.

"We are proud to be one of the first banks to bring-in this facility for our current account customers..," he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)