Hungarian Minister of National Economy Márton Nagy has been going after the banks, now stating that bank account fees have increased too much, writes Portfolio.
Earlier this month, Nagy wrote on Facebook: “Bank account fees are rising significantly. This is not justified, so we will take action here as well, if necessary.”
On Monday, the minister signed an agreement on cooperation between the National Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers (VOSZ) and the Ministry of Economy, where a cap on bank fees was proposed. “I will give banks one or two weeks to reduce bank account fees,” he said, adding, “We have options, such as introducing a price cap for service fees, which can curb unjustified price increases and implement price cuts.”
Nagy also suggested special account packages at more affordable prices for pensioners and families, and asked the Banking Association to help develop the concept. The banks did make a proposal for this, but according to the minister, it was very weak.
In a background discussion on Tuesday, Minister Márton Nagy also spoke about the 30 percent increase in current account fees on a year-over-year basis. According to the minister, the price index for financial services shows a 13 percent increase based on the rate of inflation, so 30 percent is completely inexplicable and completely unfounded.
“Nothing explains this fee increase, not even the transaction fee increase. The cost of the transfer has increased more year-over-year than the fee increase would justify,” the minister explained, adding that “this price increase cannot be justified by an improvement or jump in the quality of the service.”
Minister Nagy also asked banks to voluntarily reduce the APR level of housing loans to below 5 percent (most market interest rates were and are between 6-7 percent). Based on the Hungarian Banking Association’s commitment in November, banks finally agreed to apply the interest discount to a narrow range of loans, namely for the seven months between April 1 and October 31 this year, which the government accepted, according to Portfolio.
