ECONOMY

PM to discuss new fees with bankers on Thursday

PM to discuss new fees with bankers on Thursday

The new charges banks have imposed on most of their services customers’ transactions will be discussed in a meeting of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis with the heads of the country’s biggest banks on Thursday.

The new charges are an effort to offset the sector’s losses from interest takings, which have been in constant decline over the last few years.

Addressing the 11th annual conference of the Hellenic Management Association (EEDE) on Tuesday, Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis called on bankers to “listen to society” so that people do not get the impression that “they consulted each other" over the fees they imposed on cards.

Users of online banking make up only 34 percent of customers in Greece compared with 76 percent in countries such as the Netherlands.

At the same time, however, the percentage of fees as part of their overall operating revenues is low (23 percent in Greece versus 43 percent in the EU average).

Greece’s Competition Commission launched an investigation into their billing practices in July.

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