Bank accounts now much more expensive than five years ago

Owning a bank account has become a lot more expensive in the last five years, according to numbers provided by the Consumentenbond. Researchers of the association say that especially ING and ABN Amro have become a lot more expensive.

The Consumentenbond looked at how much money consumers lose with the cheapest bank accounts of the Dutch banks. Those numbers were then compared to 2019.

ING was one of the cheaper options five years ago for a bank account with a debit card. On average, it cost people around 18,60 euros a year at the time. Customers at ING currently pay 43,80 euros a year in comparison.

The costs were also doubled at ABN Amro to 39 euros yearly. A bank account at ASN Bank is currently the cheapest, according to the Consumentenbond, costing 32,40 euros a year.

Consumentenbond director Sandra Molenaar speaks of "extreme rate increases" and has little understanding for this. "For years, banks cited low interest rates and the costs of innovation and measures against money laundering and terrorist financing as the reason for the increasingly higher rates," she explains. "But interest rates have risen sharply, and the Dutch Banking Association (NVB) has developed standards allowing banks to conduct more targeted and risk-based research."

However, according to the NVB, it has not yet been said that the new standards for banks will also lead to lower costs for customer checks. "It's really too early to say that."

ING replied that they are continuously investing in further improvement and innovation of their services. "Society and supervisors also demand more and more extensive checks from banks when entering into a banking relationship and the duration of the ownership of their bank account," the bank also states. "Among other things, efforts for customer research and transaction monitoring in the fight against financial and economic crime have increased. As a result, the costs for secure payment transactions and continuing to comply with laws and regulations have increased in recent years."