Among the dozens of measures unveiled as part of the Simplification plan, the Minister of the Economy wishes to make it easier for professionals (self-employed, craftsmen, VSEs) to change banks by, in particular, prohibiting their banks from charging for account closure.
Simplification! The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire presented this Wednesday in the Council of Ministers his action plan aimed, in particular, at simplifying the lives of small businesses, self-employed people and craftsmen. Among the projects that the boss of Bercy intends to open is the salary slip, considered too complex to decode, but also the question of bank charges paid by professionals and companies.
MoneyVox has shown this on numerous occasions: they often pay very dearly for the services offered by their bank. Much more in any case than individuals, including for comparable operations. A service as basic as accessing an online banking space costs, for example, 5.90 euros per month for a microentrepreneur customer of La Banque Postale, whereas he would pay nothing as an individual. And there are dozens of such examples.
Bank charges: professionals, be wary of these overpriced services
Encourage switching banks
These differences can be explained, among other things, by the fact that professionals and VSEs do not benefit from any of the few regulatory safeguards put in place to regulate the pricing practices of banks towards individuals. Clear, when it comes to a pro, they do what they want, and some load the boat. Faced with these excesses, a handful of players, entrepreneurs, but also online banks, have sniffed out the opportunity, launching low-cost offers dedicated to professionals. However, we must not put obstacles in the way of those who want to join them.
Bercy does not intend to call into question all the pricing practices of local banks. His ambition will be more limited. The Simplification plan wants encourage the pros to bring in competition and choose the most competitive players. To do this, he plans to activate 2 levers. The first: prohibit banks from charging for account closure. The second: force them to provide free of charge, once a year, an annual statement of costs invoices. Two measures which have existed for a long time for individuals and which, although not disrupting the market, have been able to encourage banking mobility.
Discover the list of the cheapest banks for the self-employed, traders, self-employed professionals and VSEs/SMEs.