Non-profitable accounts closed

Banks are closing accounts they think are not making them enough money, says bank users’ association Afub.

The body says it received 508 complaints about this issue last year.

The figure from Afub relates to incidents where bank accounts were closed despite being in credit and with no payment problems associated with them, according to the association’s general secretary Serge Maître.

He said the problem is new. “Before 2009 accounts were closed when there was a breakdown in confidence between the client and their bank, a problem of solvency.”

He said it appeared now that banks wanted to get rid of people who do not make enough use of their (paid for) banking services.

The leader of banking workers union CFDT des Banques, Véronique Descacq, said the problem might be resulting from pressure on workers to sell extras to customers, (like credit cards and insurance etc), on which banks make profits. They might be “tempted to push out people who don’t have enough products,” she said.

“An account with €350 in it and no movements is an expense to the bank, notably in IT maintenance.”

The president of banking union SNB/CFE-CGC, Régis Dos Santos, said: “It’s been part of banking culture for years to measure the cost-effectiveness of accounts. A bank is not a public service.”