Yeah well they dont care about minor transactors, if you want to wire transfer 1$ at a time to people then they dont let you waste their servers with such a low price transfer...
Also it can be an anti-money laundering mechanism too. Since banks only report transactions above 1000$ or € i think so if some criminal transacts 2-3$ at a time with 1 cent transaction fee then it can be laundered...
It definitely is something to do with cost. Banks hate voluminous, low-value transactions.
As far as anti-money laundering mechanisms are considered, banks have to be vigilant in any case. Multiple, low-value transactions below the reporting threshold are flagged. So if $1000 is the threshold, and you think you can get away with 5 x $200 transactions, you are wrong. The onus is on the banks to still flag these transactions, evaluate them and report them if they think there is no business reason behind these transactions.
Well first of it it isnt, i mean it's all done electronically we are not in the 60's anymore. If takes 1 milisecond of computer processing to clear a 1$ order, plus if you charge comissions you already block malicious flooding (for example 1 guy transfering 1 $ back and forth just to slow down the system) because the comission will eat away his capital if he does that too many times.
Secondly, this AML rules are just silly. I pointed out the irony in it, if you think a few grandmas sending 2-3$ to their grandchildren are terrorists or part of an organized crime network then you are naive or ignorant (and i`m not talking about you, so no offence meant). Because you just restrict the freedom of normal people (like 99.999% of the polulation) to prevent a few criminals do something (0.001% of the pop) is very silly.
Also if you think about it, the only maffia here are the politicians, they are part of the real organized crime network called government: who counterfeit money (QE program & fractional reserve banking), steal money (taxation),harass people (inspection), all these criminal activities whitewashed just because many of the people think they are the good guys, when they are not, yet their legitimacy is never questioned though...