Along with the free-withdrawal regulation, the proposed bill agreed upon by Fidesz MPs and the National Economy Ministry will also exempt bank card payments from a tax on financial transactions. However, news outlet Portfolio.hu notes a gap between the two measures: “Whereas the costs of the first – several tens of billions of forints – will be borne by the banking sector, the approximately HUF 5 billion annual loss to be caused by the latter will be shouldered by the state budget.”
Portfolio had previously noted in earlier calculations that banks could stand to loss HUF 40 billion per year, thanks to the 0.6% financial transaction fee on cash withdrawals to their customers
The possibility of such a law coming to parliament was first announced in September, when Fidesz parliamentary party leader Antal Rogán governing stated at that time that the coalition’s plan called for Hungarians to receive at least one withdrawal from their bank accounts free of charge every month. The issue was raised, Rogan explained, due to the fact that essentially all the banks raised handling fees in response to the government’s introduction of a tax on financial transactions.
Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For over 30 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.
