MNB: Banks should provide free electronic transfers

Image: Jessica Fejos

To this end, the introduction of immediate payment, the largest domestic development project of recent years, was launched under the leadership of the MNB.

Immediate payment can be a technological alternative to cash in any situation, but its widespread use can only be achieved in practice if, like cash and card purchases, money transfer transactions are free. Therefore, the MNB explicitly requires domestic banks to provide a retail account package that allows unlimited transfers without paying any transaction fees.

In Hungary, card shopping turnover has grown remarkably at the international level, by 20-25% a year. In addition to the proliferation of underlying factors, such as touch technology, it is crucial that domestic banks themselves recognized the importance of pricing, the MNB says. Free cash transactions cannot be a competitor to an electronic payment solution where customers have to pay a fee for each transaction.

In line with this, the banks themselves have decided that the best way to support the development of card use is to carry out certain transactions free of charge of periodic (annual) fees, portfolio.hu says.