ATHENS (Reuters) – The Greek government is working on a plan to reduce bank fees and charges for retail transactions, to help households cope with high cost of living, the country’s finance minister said on Wednesday.
Greek lenders are recovering after three rounds of recapitalisations worth a cumulative 45 billion euros and a round of nationalisation after the country was rocked by a financial crisis in previous decade.
“With the government’s planned interventions bank fees will be considerably lower from 2025,” said Kostis Hatzidakis referring to daily transactions at ATMs and through e-banking.
Hatzidakis, who was addressing Greek lawmakers in a debate on 2025 state budget, said more details of the government’s plans will be announced on Sunday.
The four major Greek banks have reduced their non performing loan ratio to below 6%, from 45% in 2017, and achieved profits of 3.8 billion euros ($4.00 billion) in 2023. They plan to distribute dividends from this year’s profits for the first time in 16 years.
Only 10% of their annual fees, totalling 1.8 billion euros last year, come from retail transactions. Α possible reduction of charges by 50% will cost banks about 80-100 million euros annually, according to analysts.
Greece’s economy has rebounded since the debt crisis, but salaries lag the European average, gross domestic product per capita is among the lowest in the European Union, while the cost of goods has skyrocketed.
($1 = 0.9494 euros)
(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas; Editing by Christina Fincher)
