With so many foreign banks operating in the country, one would expect some element of competition to benefit the customers of the banks with whose money they do business in our country.

owever, it seems that all these foreign banks are here to exploit the customers and make fantastic profits which are invariably repatriated to the foreign countries. Some of the balance sheets and profit and loss accounts published in the newspapers by these banks clearly show the massive profits they are making despite the fact that the economy of the country is on a downward slide.

Recently, my son had sent a letter to one of these foreign banks to close a US$ savings account and transfer the balance of about US$ 100 to my account. Believe it or not, the bank charged US$ 29 to transfer the money from the bank in Dharmapala Mawatha to a bank in Bauddhaloka Mawatha. To deceive and mislead customers they call this commission charge of US$ 5 and swift fee of US$ 24. This charge is on top of deducting US$ 5 per month for maintaining this savings account. No wonder the foreign banks are making a killing in poor Sri Lanka.

All one can say at this stage is that 'Good riddance of bad rubbish'.

W. S. Nanayakkara
Colombo 5