MILANO – Current accounts in Italy are rising at rates faster than inflation, while online and postal ones, in addition to costing a fraction, are almost at a standstill. During 2022, banking relationships of type traditional – those accessible from the counter or online – rose to an average cost of 104 euros, 9.82% compared to a year earlier; in that year prices in the country, heated by the blaze of gas on the price lists, increased by 8.1%.
All data comes from Bank of Italy, which published the results of the survey conducted in 2023 on household current account spending. The survey “collects analytical information on the management costs actually incurred by families during 2022 and documented in the account statements”, for which the supervisor annually estimates the average unit cost of the operations applied by the intermediaries and the actual behavior of the account holders.
Seventh consecutive increase, +27.5 euros since 2016
In the 2021 the management costs of the average account had increased of 3.8 euros compared to 2020. That of 2022, informs the survey Bank of Italyand the seventh consecutive increase of spending”, and in the twelve-year period 2011-2022 “the change in fixed expenses has almost always contributed predominantly to the dynamics of management expenses, both during the expansion and contraction phases of spending”. The latest phase of price increases, “which began in 2016 and is still ongoing” saw the average cost of current accounts rise by 27.5 euros, “of which 21.1 attributable to fixed expenses”. Among other things, if it made any sense to increase rents in the years in which ECB rates were close to zero, squeezing the profitability of banks – including Italian ones – it seems more difficult to accept the logic of significant increases in prices in a period, which began in mid-2022 and still ongoing, in which the take-off in interest margins has doubled the banks’ profits, which in 2022 in Italy rose to around 15 billion euros. And the favorable dynamics of the ECB rates, combined with keeping costs under control (other than inflation) have further increased the sector’s profits in 2023, with a net aggregate figure that will approach 20 billion.
The drain on fees for accounts and plastic money
In 2022 the expense for managing a “traditional” bank account, i.e. “accessible both through the branch and with home banking methods” was equal to 104 euros, an increase compared to the value recorded in the previous year (94.7 euros)”. The increase is linked for almost two thirds to the growth in fixed expenses of the basic fees, increases of 5.9 euros. Precisely the fixed expenses represent “70% of the expense of managing an account”, equal to 72.8 euros in 2022. Variable expenses, equal to 30% of the total (31 euros per year) instead grew by 3.4 euros, “mainly due to the increased activity of customers, while commissions were almost unchanged”, we read in the document. The supervisory investigation informs that in 2022 “the increase in basic fees derives entirely from the higher amount of the same, with the percentage of customers required to pay remaining almost unchanged”. And also for debit and credit cards, the second factor in the increase in fixed costs, “the change derives from the higher amount of the related fees”. Otherwise, the increase in variable expenses “is mainly attributable to the increased number of operations” made by account holders.
Costs maintained on postal and online accounts
The official estimate, equal to 8.66 euros per month of spending for account holders, does not include the cost of ICpostal current bills that cost two thirds of banking ones and which increased more modestly during the year 2.76%: from 58 euros to 59.6 euros. Also excluded are online bank accountsaimed at consumers who operate “mainly via the internet”: in 2022 the expense of managing an online account was 33,7 euro0.7 euros more than the year before and equal to one 2.12% increase.
As for accounts “connected to current account credit opening contracts”, the commission for making the funds available was on average equal to 1.7% of the credit granted, the same as in 2021. The average fast investigation commission applied on overruns has instead decreased, from 16.9 to 16.4 euros: and the supervisory authorities report that the drop “was accompanied by a shorter duration of the overruns”.