EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/219

(2004/C 78 E/0224)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3073/03

by Ioannis Marínos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(20 October 2003)

Subject: Cost of bank transactions in Greece

According to information published in the Greek press, Greek banks plan to introduce a charge for all types of bank operations (including the simplest operations such as providing information on the balance on an account) carried out by staff at the counter. It has also been reported that each exchange transaction will incur a charge of at least EUR 2 and a similar charge will be applied to deposits or withdrawals of cash from a depositor's account, whilst information concerning the balance on the account will be subject to a charge of EUR 1,5.

It might be pointed out that, apart from professionals and the many thousands of other Greek depositors, hundreds of thousands of Greek pensioners carry out transactions at the counter, and naturally enough they have little knowledge of how to use automated teller machines (ATMs), the Internet and phone banking. If the above plans are carried through, pensioners will face a particular problem given that, if they are to avoid paying the above charge for transactions at the counter, they will be obliged to use ATMs (which are often located in the open rather than inside the banks), with the result, among other things, that they will become a fairly easy target for the many criminals who have been overrunning Greece in recent years.

What charges are citizens in the remaining 14 EU countries required to pay for deposits, withdrawals and the provision of information concerning their account? What are the average interest rates for current and savings accounts in the 12 countries of the ‘eurozone’?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(17 December 2003)

The Commission regrets that it does not have sufficient information to be able to fully answer the written question.

To the best of the Commission's knowledge, charges for banking operations are decided by each bank on the basis of its costs and the competitive environment. If, as alleged in the written question, prices are the same for all banks, and the Honourable Member has reasons to believe that there may have been collusion between banks in deciding on identical prices, the Commission would suggest that he submit this information to the national competition authorities. The Commission, in principle, does not intervene on the question of prices. The only Union provision dealing with prices for payments is Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001 of the Council of 19 December 2001 on cross-border payments in euro (1), which establishes a non-discrimination rule between charges for national and cross-border payments in euro.

As regards information concerning charges in Member States to citizens for deposits, withdrawals and the provision of account information, the Commission has not collected and is not aware of the existence of such information. Several thousand financial institutions in the Union set these prices independently and no average prices per country are collected for these charges.

As regards average interest rates on current and savings accounts in the 12 euro-zone countries, the European Central Bank (ECB) gathers and publishes certain unharmonised national statistics on current account deposits, time deposits and savings accounts. However, such rates cannot be compared directly with one another. The tables from the ECB can be accessed on the Internet at the following address: (http://www.ecb.int/stats/nrir/rir_nrir.pdf). The Commission will send the Honourable Member a copy of the more detailed tables separately.

In June 2003, average interest rates ranged from 0,15 % to 1,48 % for current accounts, and from 0,04 % to 3,15 % for savings accounts, in those Member States where such information was available. The average for the euro area was 1,85 % for deposits with one year maturity, and 1,83 % for deposits redeemable at up to three months notice.

(1) OJ L 344, 28.12.2001.