The average expense for managing a current account decreased for the third consecutive year. In 2011 it stood at 105,7 €, over 4 euros less than the previous year and 8 euros less than 2009. The trend is mainly linked to the reduction in fees and expenses for the booking of individual transactions. It is what emerges from a survey by the Bank of Italy which took into consideration the charges and commissions, other than interest, shown in the 2011 account statements of over 12.000 customers distributed across 682 branches of 215 banks and BancoPosta.
“The contraction in costs – they explain from Via Nazionale – was not influenced, as happened last year, by lower customer operations: overall, in fact, the number of operations is increasing; in particular, withdrawals from ATMs and transfers made both at the counter and through other channels increased. The reduction in fixed costs and some variable costs, combined with the increase in the number of transactions, led to a drop in the average cost per transaction in the last year of 18%, from 1,78 to 1,51 euro”.
the accounts to which the granting of credit is associated (credit lines or overdrafts), "the commissions for making funds available are compared with those for maximum overdrafts, still permitted in 20111. The latter were particularly burdensome for customers with high or long-term overdrafts", concludes Bankitalia .
