Belgian banking group KBC has announced it will be scrapping its free current account later this year, meaning just one of the four major players offers such a service.
From July 2024, the basic package (KBC Basic Account) will no longer be free, but will instead cost €2 a month, KBC announced on Monday. However, the account will remain free for young people up to 24 years old.
"These changes reflect the higher level of inflation, as well as KBC's ongoing investments in innovation, digitalisation, security and continual monitoring of complex and rapidly changing regulations," KBC noted in a statement.
KBC has offered this account since 2014 when it simplified its offering of personal accounts to two packages, namely the free KBC Basic Account and a paying KBC Plus Account (KBC argued that 75% of customers opt for a KBC Plus Account).
Customers want more
The free account included one bank (debit) card and credit card. The only cost was a €0.50 free if cash was withdrawn from another bank. However, KBC noted that the offer of the free account has been systematically expanded in recent years and that customers want to use more and more additional services and features.
KBC says it wants to meet that demand, but "to continue to guarantee the same high level of comprehensive service and to develop new applications that save customers money and time, KBC is adapting the account offer".
The fee for the Plus account, which offers additional features such as the ability to pay using Apple Pay, a free second debit card and free replacement cards, will already increase in April of this year to €3.75 per month (instead of €3.25), but it will also remain free for under 25s.
Affected customers will be notified of the price changes in January. This decision means that Belfius is the only bank out of the four major players in Belgium (BNP Paribas Fortis, KBC, Belfius and ING Belgium) that offers a free service for adults.
Smaller players such as Hello Bank, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas Fortis, Argenta, Beobank, Keytrade Bank, Bank, Bpost, Crelan, Axa, N26, Revolut and Europabank also offer free accounts.
