Current bank account fees up 20 percent in two years

Bank customers' current account fees increased by over 20 percent, on average, in the past two years. The cost of a second bank card more than doubled in the same period, and business customers pay about 11 percent more for their accounts, Telegraaf reports based on figures from the financial research agency MoneyView.

According to MoneyVIew, banks blame the fee hikes on years of low interest rates and the high costs of innovation and measures against money laundering. But those excuses are becoming less credible.

Interest rates have risen sharply in the past two years. “The Dutch Banking Association has now developed new standards for more targeted investigation in the context of detecting money laundering and terrorist financing,” MoneyView said. And yet, this has not led to a slower increase in bank rates.

Early this year, the Consumentenbond also criticized the high bank fees after ABN Amro and ING increased their rates. According to the consumers’ association, the costs of having a current account at these two banks more than doubled in five years.

This month, Rabobank and the Volksbank subsidiaries SNS and ASN also increased their rates.