I recently purchased airline tickets from a Singapore-registered website and paid in Singapore dollars by credit card. I was shocked to see in the credit card bill a dynamic currency conversion (DCC) charge amounting to 1 per cent of the cost of the air tickets.

Some banks impose a DCC charge for any transaction processed through a foreign platform - and state that consumers should check with the merchants as the banks are unable to do so.

If the banks are unable to check on the merchants, how do they expect consumers to do so?

Those who make transactions at local websites in Singapore dollars will not expect the merchants to be processing the payments through a foreign platform. There are no warnings or notices on the websites of the additional charges.

It is not fair for the banks to impose the fees on consumers. The merchants should be made to pay for the DCC charges instead.

I hope the relevant authorities - the Monetary Authority of Singapore or the Infocomm Development Authority - could investigate such bank practices and introduce regulation to protect the interests of consumers.

Tay Huay Khoong