France's banks have agreed to slash fees charged to each other for bill payments by direct debit, among the highest in Europe, antitrust authorities said on Thursday. Eleven banks including BNP Paribas, Societe Generale and HSBC France will halve interbank fees charged on bill payments and wire transfers from abroad from September 1 before abandoning them completely in 2013.
At 12.2 euro cents per direct debit, these fees were the third-highest in Europe behind Portugal and Italy, the Autorite de la Concurrence antitrust authority said. It launched an investigation after complaints from retailers and utilities, which it said indirectly bore the brunt of many of these fees. "300 million euros' ($375.3 million) worth of fees will be put back into the economy," the authority said. "The decision means that the banks are obligated to fulfil their promise."