Bank charges: increases to remain below inflation in 2022

According to a survey by Meilleure-banque.com, the rise in bank charges should be moderate in 2022, remaining below the general level of inflation. However, the cost of some of the most costly banking operations is set to rise considerably.

Stable bank charges in 2021

In 2021, bank charges remained stable overall, as revealed in a report published in October by the Observatoire des tarifs bancaires (OTB). Based on a panel of 109 banks, the Banque de France-affiliated organization found only one fee lower than in 2020, 7 with very slight increases (of less than 50 euro cents) and 6 stable.

Next year, the rise in bank charges should be contained overall, as revealed by a study by the Meilleure-banque.com website, published in the daily Le Parisien. It should remain lower than the rise in consumer prices, and be less significant than in previous years.

A higher rise for transactions that cost banks a lot of money

However, rates for the most costly operations for banks are set to rise further. This will be the case, in particular, for in-branch issuing of bank cheques, an operation which will now cost around 15 euros, with an average increase of 5.18%.

In general, banking transactions involving payment instruments that are used less and less, such as cheques and cash, are likely to increase significantly.

These are more costly for financial institutions to process than, for example, credit card transactions, which is why they have decided to reduce the number of such transactions by increasing their rates. For example, the cost of sending a checkbook by post will rise by 4.87%, to between 3.90 and 6 euros.

In-branch transactions will also see a fairly substantial rise, as banks have been aiming to limit their number for several years now. While charges for in-branch transfers will rise more moderately than those for chequebooks, for example, there will still be an increase of 3.60%. The transaction will now cost between 12 euros and 26.40 euros.

On the other hand, account maintenance fees are set to rise by just 1.28%, according to the Meilleure-banque.com survey based on the price brochures of 68 banks. This average figure conceals very different realities: while some banks will see a moderate increase, others will see a sharp rise. Crédit Agricole Île-de-France, for example, which until now has not charged account maintenance fees, will be charging its customers 12 euros from 2022.