Bank fees are very high in Romania compared to other countries in the region, Competition Council sixth annual report about economic key sectors shows. The institution notes that an European Commission study in 2009 revealed that Romania ranked fourth in the list of countries with the highest costs related to a payment account and these costs exceed the EU average, with a difference of about EUR 50.
According to the Competition report, except Marfin Bank and Banca Transilvania, all the other banks charge at least RON 2.5/month for the administration of a basic current account. Also, balance querying is charged by most banks, except Piraeus Bank, Credit Europe Bank and Marfin Bank. Most banks do not charge commission for monthly statement issuing, except Banca Transilvania and Libra Internet Bank, where each statement is charged by RON 1 or 50 bani respectively.
Life insurance domain under oligopolistic threat
Regarding cash withdrawing from an outside home network ATM, the fees charged by banks to residential customers show a higher degree of variability. The highest commission is charged by BCR – 1 percent + RON 6, while the price of most banks do not exceed 50 bani.
The same report says life insurance market has a low competition degree and the client cannot use the available information. “As a result, the Competition Council’s concerns are related to some displacement of the Romanian life insurance sector to a market model with an oligopolistic structure, with all the competition risks that this approach entails,” the report reads.