in 2021 expenses for managing current accounts ordinary, but also online and postal services have increased. This is what emerges from the survey conducted by Bank of Italy collecting analytical information on management expenses actually incurred by households over the course of a year and documented in the year-end account statements. The survey carried out in 2022 was conducted on over 13.000 bank current accounts and 1.000 postal current accounts and around 950 online accounts not attributable to branches.
Ordinary current account expenses: six consecutive increases
According to the study of Bankitalia, in 2021 the cost of managing a current account is increased by 3,8 euros, reaching 94,7 euros. This is the sixth consecutive increase in spending. “With the exception of 2014, the growth in fixed expenses has always contributed significantly to the dynamics of management expenses, both during the expansionary and contractionary phases of expenditure”, underlines Via Nazionale.
Current accounts: fixed expenses and variable expenses
THEincrease registered in 2021, continues the study, is due to both the growth of fixed and variable expenses. The former amount to 66,9 € and represent almost 71 per cent of the total expenditure. In 2021 they are increased by 2,8 euros (+4,3 in 2020) due to expenses for basic fees and expenses for the management and issuing of payment cards (debit and credit). “For basic fees, the change derives from an increase, albeit modest, in the percentage of customers required to pay the basic fee; for payment cards, the change derives from the combined increase in average commissions and the number of cards owned”, explains the Bank of Italy.
Le variable expenses, instead, they account for 29% and amount to 27,8 euros. In 2021 they are increased by 1 euros compared to 2020 mainly due to the increase in the number of transactions which resulted in an increase of 1,8 euros. In reverse, commissions were on average down, contributing to a decrease in expenses of 80 cents.
Online checking account expenses are also increasing, here's what it's due to
- increases they also concerned online current accounts, the cost of which increased from 21,5 to 24,3 euros, 2,8 euros more than the previous year. “The increase is due to the increase in expenditure on basic fees and debit card issuing fees,” he explains Bankitalia, which then underlines how the higher variable costs concern wire transfers and "higher other variable costs, determined in turn by an increase in spending for top-ups made on prepaid cards".
Online accounts vs conventional bank accounts: here are the differences
Despite this, online checking accounts are still significantly cheaper than conventional ones: the spending gap is equal to 70,4 euros (they were 69,4 in 2020). The largest difference, equal to 30 euros, concerns the expenditure on basic fees and depends on two factors: the lowest percentage of customers required to pay fees (54,4 percent of online customers against 71,4 of traditional customers); the lower amount of the basic fee, equal to 32,7 per cent of the conventional accounts (it was equal to 31,9 per cent in the previous year). Even the lower expense for issuing and managing payment cards derives from the lower fees.
Rates are cheaper also for variable expenses, especially those for accounting entries, free of charge in online accounts, cash withdrawals at ATMs, online transfers and automatic payments.
“There are no significant differences in the average levels of transactions between the two classes of accounts: over the course of a year, the number of online transactions in relation to total transactions was 82,1 per cent for online accounts and to 72,7 for conventional ones”, emphasizes the Bank of Italy.
Postal current accounts: increase of 5 euros in one year
In 2021 the cost of managing a postal account was equal to 58 €, for an increase of 5 euros compared to the previous year. Fixed expenses increased by 1,2 euros, variable expenses by 3,7 euros.
“Il gap between postal and ordinary accounts remains large and equal to 36,7 euros (37,8 euros in 2020) and is attributable both to the particular composition of the basket of services and transactions and to the different tariff structure", highlights Via Nazionale who adds: "postal customers, in fact, occasionally uses services such as the maintenance of securities dossiers which feed into "other fixed expenses"; also the percentage of customers holding at least one credit card is much lower among postal accounts (6,2% against 40,6%)”. Furthermore, significant differences persist in terms of tariffs, with reference to the basic fees.
