Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday that banks must pay attention to their fees. He emphasised that fees for citizens should be reasonable and appropriate and not excessive.

In response to a journalist’s comment that banks are trying to compensate for the announced abolition of account maintenance fees by increasing other fees, he said that the government will discuss bank fees after Thursdays’s cabinet meeting.

State Secretary at the Finance Ministry, Davor Zoricic, reported on a “so-called basic account” to be used for salary deposits without incurring fees, Plenkovic added.

Finance Minister Marko Primorac is currently in the United States to attend the annual meeting of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund. Upon his return, Plenkovic said, he will meet with representatives of the Croatian National Bank (HNB) to ensure that the fees citizens pay to banks for transactions are “reasonable”

Banks in Croatia did not suffer losses during the crisis; their fees are too high

Plenkovic said that banks in Croatia are doing well and have not suffered losses during the crisis, so they should make their fees “acceptable”. When asked if the banks have gone too far with their fees, he said that an analysis is needed, adding: “It is clear that they have, because people are complaining.”

Primorac said earlier this month that changes to the law would allow salary deposits into a bank account and withdrawals without fees. The fees charged by banks in Croatia are too high and since salary deposits into accounts are a legal obligation, it is not good to set these fees unilaterally, he added.

HNB Governor Boris Vujcic recently recalled that the central bank had asked banks to explain their methodology for changing fee amounts. Any change in fees must be justified, he said.