Bad news for Italian account holders. Three of the five main Italian banks have decided to increase the cost of current accounts, by charging customers higher amounts in order to recover the expenses incurred to finance the "National Resolution Fund" created in order to "save" Banca Marche, Banca Etruria, CariChieti and Carife, i.e. the four institutions placed under resolution by the Government in November 2015.
Next 31 December, Banco Popolare account holders will find the last account statement of the year a one-off contribution of 25 euros. The Veronese bank itself explained the reason in an email sent to employees and customers and published by the newspaper Linkiesta: «The maneuver is justified as a partial recovery of the contributions paid by Banco Popolare to the newly established "National Resolution Fund". Under the item "Fixed liquidation costs", current account holders will find the amount mentioned above.
There is also among the lenders that have established price increases Unicredit which, in the context of the MyGenius account statement relating to the three months ending 31 March 2016, announced that due to "certain legislative and/or regulatory interventions as well as commitments imposed by the Authorities" the bank had to face higher costs against of lower revenues. Among the reasons behind the increase, as reported by the Milanese institute, are: the entry into force of the Fact, the increase in VAT, the financing of the bank crisis resolution fund.
Therefore, starting from 1 July the monthly fee of MyGenius Silver, Gold and Platinum will increase by two euros. The cost to be paid will therefore be the following:
– MyGenius Silver: 5 euros per month;
– MyGenius Gold: 7 euros per month;
– MyGenius Platinum: 12 euros per month.
However, the increase will be accompanied by some changes. With the Silver account, Unicredit will also provide its customers with a checkbook, while a credit card is required for the Gold account.
The financing of the National Resolution Fund and the Guarantee Fund for deposits of less than 100 thousand euros are also the reasons that led UbiBanca to establish a mark-up on current accounts of 12 euros a year.
The above increases will affect approximately 12,4 million households and businesses, in percentage terms this is approximately 20% of the Italian population.
