Circular OPASI 2 - 150. Commissions and expenses for the opening and operation of deposit accounts. Amending rules.

BANCO CENTRAL DE LA REPUBLICA ARGENTINA
__________________________________________________________________ COMUNICACION " A " 2468 26/09/96 __________________________________________________________________ TO FINANCIAL ENTITIES:
Ref.: Circular
OPASI 2 - 150.
Commissions and expenses for the opening and operation of deposit accounts. Amending rules

We address you to inform you that this
Institution adopted the following resolution:

"1. Establish, effective from 11/01/96, that depository financial entities - as a prerequisite prior to opening and as an integral clause of the contracts or regulations governing their use - must obtain the express consent of holders of current accounts, savings accounts, and special accounts for closed circles, for the debit in the respective accounts of commissions and expenses for services linked to their operation, regardless of their nature, including, among others, those corresponding to:

• account opening;

• account maintenance;

• issuance and sending of account summaries or automatic debits;

• counter operations or with the entity's automated teller machines (ATMs);

• settlement of values presented for collection or of checks excluded from the clearing house regime;

• deposits or withdrawals at branches other than those where the accounts are located;

• rejection of own or third-party checks - except for mandatory charges derived from legal provisions -;

• provision of deposit slips;

• provision of customized checkbooks and counter checks;

• issuance and delivery of debit cards or for use in ATMs;

• automatic debits;

• use of ATMs of other entities or networks in the country or abroad;

• third-party deposits (collections);

• out-of-hours deposits;

• check certification;

• granted overdraft margins;

• signature certification;

• stop payment orders for checks.

This consent must also encompass other forms that imply an implicit remuneration for the services provided by the depository entity, such as the recognition of interest on deposits from the existence of a certain minimum balance, etc.

Such authorization must be extended by the client in two copies (original to be archived by the entity and duplicate for the client) of a form that the depository entity must enable for this purpose, in which the value of each of the concepts or, where applicable, the minimum balance from which interest is recognized will be stated. In the case of "values for collection," the minimum and maximum amounts will be indicated, in absolute value and as a percentage, noting the location - at the branch where it operates - where the client can consult the detail of applicable commissions.

When the financial entity adopts decisions that imply affecting the operation of the accounts - totally or partially - and/or modifying the amount of commissions or expenses whose debit had been accepted, it must inform the client about their content and new values prior to their application, through a formal notification or through their inclusion in the account summary or statement.

Whenever there is no express rejection by the client, the new conditions may be applied after a period of no less than 30 days, counted from the date of expiration of the period established for the sending or making available of the summaries, unless formal notification to the client is opted for, in which case this period is reduced to 5 days. In the case of changes that signify decreases in commissions or expenses, the new amounts may be applied without the need to wait for the aforementioned periods to elapse.

Funds debited for commissions or expenses without the prior knowledge of the clients or despite their opposition, as established above, must be refunded to the holders within 5 business days following the date on which they present their claim to the entity. Additionally, the amount of expenses incurred to obtain the refund and the relevant compensatory interest will be recognized up to the limit equivalent to 100% of the observed debits. These conditions will be made known to the client through the insertion of a specific clause in the authorization form and in the respective contracts or regulations.

2. Establish that what is provided in the preceding point regarding the procedure for communicating modifications in commissions or expenses, is applicable to the changes proposed from 11/01/96, with respect to accounts that are open as of 10/31/96.

3. Repeal the resolution disseminated by Communication "A" 2439."

We salute you very attentively.
BANCO CENTRAL DE LA REPUBLICA ARGENTINA
Juan Carlos Isi Alfredo A. Besio
Head of Regulations for Head of Regulations for Financial Entities Financial Entities