(Bloomberg) -- Greece will impose a cap on fees that banks charge for money transfers while people won’t be charged with any fees when they pay their bills, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Sunday.
The government decided that lenders’ initiatives so far to reduce administrative costs for their clients “were not enough,” Mitsotakis told lawmakers on Sunday ahead of a vote on next year’s budget. He announced that there will be a cap of €0.50 ($0.52) on banks’ fees for money transfers of up to €5,000 and clients won’t see any extra charges when they pay their bills or their obligations to the state.
The move comes amid growing pressure on the government to impose a new levy on Greek lenders, which have recovered from the decade-long debt crisis that forced the state to pump in some €45 billion to keep them afloat. Spain’s increase of a windfall tax on its biggest lenders sparked speculation Greece could follow suit.
Mitsotakis ruled out an extraordinary tax at an investor event in London in early December and reiterated that such a measure wouldn’t help people.
Greek banks including Eurobank Ergasias Services and Holdings SA and National Bank of Greece SA have returned to profit and begun to pay dividends for the first time since 2008. They’ve brought bad loans close to the European average and announced plans to accelerate the repayment of deferred tax credits.
In the first half of 2024, Greek lenders recorded €993 million of net fee income, an almost 16% increase year-on-year, according to data from the Bank of Greece. Their total operating income rose almost 11% to €5.78 billion in the six months through June.
The premier also announced a €100 million contribution from banks for the reconstruction of old schools or the building of new ones. On top of that, the property tax that lenders pay for the properties they manage will double, as the government tries to find solutions to help households find homes in lower prices.
“Budget means, above all, realism,” Mitsotakis said to lawmakers.
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