While the European Central Bank has been raising its rates for several months, these increases have not yet been reflected in the rates offered by major banks in Belgium on savings accounts.
Asked on Friday whether further interest rate hikes on savings are planned soon at Belfius, CEO Marc Raisière responded with a good measure of caution.
"Rate management within a bank is an extremely complex area to manage," he said. "Take time to analyse the results of other banks and you will see that rate management can lead to substantial losses in banking activity."
At the same time, he recalled that Belfius recently became "the first bank in Belgium to increase rates on savings accounts."
While stating that the first opportunity to increase interest rates on savings accounts would be reserved for the bank's customers, the CEO justified a certain wait-and-see attitude by the "extreme volatility" of interest rates.
Moreover, the banking sector still needs a few months to be able to adapt its tariffs (especially mortgage rates) to the new interest rate environment, he explained.
"Managing rates is crucial for a bank and cannot be done in too light a fashion," the CEO insisted, recalling that the finance minister is thinking of an additional tax, to be paid by the banking sector, in connection with the contribution to the deposit guarantee scheme.
"We also need to take that tax into account," he noted.
