Customers pay 42 percent more for a standard checking account than five years ago, according to research by the Consumers’ Association. Due to the rate increase, customers are less satisfied with their bank, says the union.
The banks say that they incur all kinds of costs, some of which they pass on to the customer. The consumer association believes that the costs of countering cybercrime, for example, should be borne by the banks themselves.
The largest increase was at the Triodos bank: consumers are 113 percent more expensive than in 2017 and pay 60 euros per year instead of more than 28 euros. Knab is the only one not to raise its price, but already charged 60 euros five years ago.
Furthermore, the costs of an account in the name of one person have risen faster than an account in the name of two (51 percent versus 32 percent). It also matters how many services someone uses: for example, the rates for overdrafting, withdrawing money outside the EU or depositing cash at a bank differ.
‘Costs increased’
“At a certain point it is understandable that banks adjust their rates to the rising costs,” says Berend Jan Beugel, spokesperson for the Dutch Payments Association. “Those costs are rising every year.” According to him, the extra income does not cover the costs incurred by the banks.
Innovation is an important cost item, says Beugel: “Banks, for example, have invested heavily in instant payments – that money is immediately in someone’s account when you transfer it. You used to get it the next working day and it took longer if there was a holiday in between.”
In addition, Beugel mentions the rising supervisory costs: De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) and the supervisory authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) expect banks to monitor increasingly better whether their customers abuse payment systems, for example for money laundering. According to the spokesperson, inflation also has an impact on banks: the prices for external transaction processors and service providers are also rising. Finally, according to him, a lot of money goes to combating cybercrime in order to prevent major hacking attacks.
‘Unfair passing on to consumers’
“These kinds of costs are part of your business operations, the ordinary customer has nothing to do with it,” says Gerard Spierenburg, spokesperson for the Consumers’ Association. He is also critical of inflation as a factor in the rate increase: “That would apply if the price increase had remained the same as inflation, but it was far from 42 percent on average.”
Spierenburg therefore does not see a good explanation for the rate increase, especially in view of the profits that some banks have made: “If you make a lot of profit, do you have to pass the costs on to the consumer?”
The Dutch Payments Association believes that the cost increase should be placed “in perspective”: “Dutch banks are among the cheapest in Europe. Just go to Italy, France or Germany: you can spend 200 to 300 euros a year there.”
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