Van Peteghem requests research to investigate whether agreements have been made between banks | Interior

The interest rate on savings accounts has been the subject of debate for some time. In recent weeks, political pressure has increased on the banks to raise interest rates, because the European Central Bank has already raised its leading interest rate several times. However, in a report to the government, the National Bank was not in favor of a mandatory increase in savings interest, because it would jeopardize financial stability.

Today, Belfius was the first of the major banks to announce a new increase in savings interest. From 1 July, the interest on ordinary savings accounts will rise from 0.5 percent to 0.9 percent and on savings accounts with a higher fidelity premium from 0.8 percent to 1.25 percent.

Van Peteghem sent letters to Dermagne and to the governor of the National Bank, Pierre Wunsch, on Tuesday. He asks Dermagne to ask the BMA for an analysis of the operation of the market for regulated savings accounts. He also advocates that the competition watchdog identify the underlying causes that may act as a brake on the saver’s ability to move savings. If necessary, the BCA must open an investigation into possible infringements of competition law, it still sounds.

In the Dermagne cabinet, on the other hand, you can hear that the PS member is already working on the whole issue. On May 25, Minister Dermagne proposed to the core to ask the BMA to investigate. On May 31, there was already an exploratory discussion about this with the BMA. The file has not yet landed in the government and the question has not yet been officially asked.

In the letter to Wunsch, the CD&V minister asks to continue to monitor the interest rate evolution and the comparison with neighboring countries. The letter follows the advice of the National Bank.

There will therefore be no increase in the minimum interest rate on savings accounts for the time being. Van Peteghem, like the National Bank, fears that it could stabilize the entire banking sector too much. This is also the end of the matter for the liberals: they are convinced that the free market will now do its job. “The competition will now have to react. And it also shows that it is not necessary to immediately resort to legal initiatives,” said Alexia Bertrand (Open Vld), State Secretary for Consumer Protection.

But the Socialists and Greens have no intention of shedding that demand just like that. Both families have prepared a bill that links the savings interest to the ECB interest rate of 3.25 percent, so that the difference should never exceed 2 percentage points. That would ensure that the return on savings accounts would rise to at least 1.25 percent. The flip side of that coin is that banks are in danger of going bankrupt or recovering that ‘loss’ through home loans. “That debate is certainly not closed for us,” says PS.