Croatia’s Ministry of Finance announced it will open a public consultation on amendments to the Act on the comparability of fees that would require banks to provide citizens with a free payment account for regular income and a free basic payment account. The proposal is positioned as a response to the fact that citizens must receive salaries into a bank account while banks currently set related fees at their discretion. For the free regular-income account, the amendments would prohibit fees for opening, maintaining and closing the account; internet or mobile banking (meaning at least one of these services would have to be free); depositing funds (excluding coin processing); incoming domestic and cross-border payment transactions in EUR; issuing and using a debit card and making payments by debit card; and withdrawing cash at the counter or at an ATM. For pensioners and vulnerable groups, free cash withdrawals would have to be available both at the counter and at ATMs. The ministry expects to place the draft amendments into public consultation in the week beginning 24 February 2025. The finance minister also indicated that, once the law enters into force, banks would be obliged to provide a free account upon request and that the ministry will continue monitoring fee developments, following discussions with banks about recent fee increases and announcements.

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