Cgia, the Italian customers are the most bled dry by the banks in Europe – BEND.it

In 2015, the percentage of the net commission revenues of Italian banks (equal to 36,5%) was the highest in Europe. Among the major Eu countries, in France the share was 32.9% in Austria to 27.5% in Germany to 26.2% and in the Netherlands to 17%. Last year, the net revenues resulting from bank commissions have reached 30 billion euros, almost 5 billion more than in 2008.

In particular, the research department of Cgia, the report indicates that in the past 7 years (2008-2015), the growth of the costs of current accounts, credit cards and other banking services in Italy, a surge that has not had an equal in the rest of Europe. If the increase was 20% in Italy, the United Kingdom has stopped to 11.5%, France 11.1%, Spain 6.5%, while in Germany (-4,6%), Belgium (-7%) and especially in the Netherlands (-27%), there was a strong decrease. Paul Zabeo of the research department of Cgia, notes the following: “if we take into account that the economic crisis increased dramatically the suffering-in-chief to the customers and the fall in interest rates has reduced to the minimum terms, the margin of profitability of our banks, the latter weighed down by fixed costs still too high have deemed it cheaper to cut jobs, and therefore the risks, and increase revenue from commissions on current accounts, on the services atm/credit cards, the service of collection/payment, and the extra credit, such as the sale of securities, currencies and capital instruments”.

From the beginning of the crisis (2008) to 2015 – for the Cgia – the net revenue of Italian banks from lending operations fell by 13 billion (-25,3%), against the proceeds attributable to the net commissions increased by € 4.9 billion (+20%) and other income, net (consisting primarily of the business of insurance or trading of securities, foreign currency and capital instruments) increased to 11 billion (+556,5%). Although in recent years has steadily decreased, the Cgia indicates that structural costs in the domestic banking system remain the highest in Europe. Calculated the incidence of operational expenses (attributable to cost of staff, taxes, property management, general operation, etc.) related by 2015 (equal to 52,4 billion euros), the total amount of assets (as at 31 December 2015 amounted to 2.723 billion euros), the result amounted to 1,93%. Given the clearly higher in all the percentages related to the top 10 economies in banking in the european Union.