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Multiple Facebook posts shared thousands of times in February 2021 claim that ATM withdrawal fees were waived in Sri Lanka. The claim is false: Sri Lanka’s national payment infrastructure body as well as private banks said no such decision to waive ATM fees had been made. The claim was made in a graphic image published on Facebook here on February 18, 2021. The graphic’s Sinhala-language text translates to English as: From today onwards, cash can be withdrawn using any bank card off ATMs without any withdrawal fee. The Facebook post’s caption translates as: A must be done request / Here is the good news that was implemented. Screenshot of the Facebook post captured on February 24, 2021 A similar claim was made on Facebook here , here and here . The claim is false, according to private banks and Sri Lanka’s national payment infrastructure. A spokesperson for LankaClear , a national payment infrastructure organisation that is owned by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, told AFP by phone on February 23, 2021: No decision has been made to revise or wave off the withdrawal fee charged for CAS. CAS is an acronym for the Common ATM Switch, a LankaClear system that allows consumers to withdraw money from any ATM in the country regardless of their personal bank. The CAS network connects 99.95% of ATMs in Sri Lanka, LankaClear notes here . CAS fees for withdrawing cash or checking account balances were listed by LankaClear here . Customer support centres from multiple banks — including People’s Bank, Nations Trust Bank and Bank of Ceylon — also told AFP no decision has been made to waive ATM fees as of February 26, 2021.
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