Belgians remain loyal to the country’s four biggest sector players – BNP Paribas Fortis, KBC, ING Belgium and Belfius – despite smaller banks offering higher interest rates on their savings, recent figures from Febelfin revealed.
According to the banking federation, only 93,167 customers changed banks in 2022, with the big four banks holding two-thirds of Belgians’ wealth among the 17 million banking accounts in Belgium.
Around €300 billion is kept in savings accounts in Belgium. The number of savings accounts in the top four banks has risen by 114% since 2009 – whereas for smaller banks it amounts to a 61% increase.
L’Echo attributed this to a growing caution on Belgians’ behalf following the 2008 global financial crisis.
However, now that interest rates are rising again after successive hikes from the European Central Bank, many Belgians may be considering switching banks for better interest on their savings.
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In the past, most banks in Belgium limited their rates to the legal minimum of 0.11% with no major differences between bigger and smaller establishments.
But due to last year’s rampant inflation, the ECB recently rose their interest rates again, now standing at 3.25%. Smaller banks have followed the trend for saving accounts, with L’Echo giving the example of NIBC Direct which offers a 2% interest rate on customers’ savings.
The Belgian Government has also been pushing banks, especially the four biggest, to raise their savings rates.
Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem has even gone as far as writing a letter to Febelfin. Yet these attempts have been largely unsuccessful, with the banking federation claiming that such a move “could profoundly affect the stability of the banking sector.”
