The elimination or reduction of commissions in specific categories of banking services, such as remittances and (re)issuance of cards, was announced by National Bank and Alpha Bank, following similar moves from Eurobank and Piraeus Bank in July.
Minister of National Economy and Finance Kostis Hatzidakis has warned credit institutions “to adopt fairer systems based on the practices of other European banks or companies with large customer networks in Greece.” Otherwise, the minister stressed, there will be legislative interventions.
Hatzidakis brought up the issue of bank commissions with his announcement yesterday, calling upon the domestic banks to modernize and render “commissions more citizen-friendly.”
National Bank
National Bank announced a 50% reduction in the costs of paying bills through ATMs and payment machines, as well as in the costs of issuing check cards (from 2 to 1 euro). In money transfers, it reduced the direct transfer fee to 1.5 euros from 2.5 euros for amounts up to 500 euros. Finally, it is abolishing currency conversion fees for prepaid cardholders through the Next app as well as the two-euro prepaid card discharge fee.
The bank underlined that it has kept fees for electronic transactions through IRIS and POS at reasonable levels, applying a maximum fee limit for specific categories of professionals and small businesses, prioritizing the connection of store and digital services. The new price list will apply to the bank’s customers from September 20.
Alpha Bank
Alpha Bank announced the reduction or even zero commissions on certain services and products for 1.5 million of its customers. In the category of remittances, it reduced the fee to 1 euro (for amounts up to 1,000 euros) on outgoing remittances from Individuals via myAlpha Web or myAlpha Mobile. In addition, it is waiving charges for the reissue of a debit card due to loss or damage, for the issuance and first charge of a prepaid Mastercard, and for the reissue of a prepaid Mastercard due to loss or damage.
In addition, Alpha provides free instant payment service (IRIS) to traders, while favorable pricing is also provided through myAlpha Benefit subscription trading packages. The new reduced fees will be effective from next Monday, September 9.
Bank of Piraeus
Piraeus Bank also made similar announcements at the end of July, informing its customers that it is implementing a new 50% reduction in the fees of the IRIS payments interbank service for business use, with the aim of encouraging electronic transactions and further facilitating the acceptance direct payments from freelancers and sole proprietorships.
Moreover, it abolished the commission of outgoing remittances up to 15,000 euros from an individual via Phone Banking as well as the commission for the payment of another bank’s credit card by an individual via Phone Banking.
Eurobank
A different approach was adopted by Eurobank which announced in mid-July four subscription packages that it offers to its customers which lead, in total, to significant savings from their transaction costs.
These packages have been designed to meet the different needs of users, depending on the quantity and type of transactions they carry out through the bank’s digital channels. Some examples are free card issuances/reissues, free remittances up to 500 euros per day, free standing orders, etc.
