Well the problem is that they're ALL like that, it's some cartel bullshit.

There is literally no bank in my country that doesn't charge fat fees. Even credit unions want at least like 8€/month for just a starter account with online banking, plus the 1.5€ fee for each SEPA transfer, seriously. Back when I learned that this isn't standard procedure worldwide my mind was completely blown.

As for alternatives, there are pseudo-banks one might use like N26, Revolut, Wise and similar, but each one of those can at any point terminate your account for no reason, some don't even allow receiving money from accounts not in your name so you can't use them as actual bank accounts. They're not exactly a thing one can keep savings in.

Hold on -- sometimes when they're all charging the same price, it's because that's actually "the market price" in the sense that it wouldn't be profitable to do it for an less, and they actually have their own high costs they have to take care of. If there's free entry into this sector, and all banks find they have to do things that way, then that might just be what's going on.

From what I understand, Europe typically has postal banking that's minimal fee and should be a release valve against other banks' excess, which would for the "legit price" hypothesis.

But if it's very very difficult to start new banks, or for existing businesses to start serving this demand, that would favor the cartel hypothesis.

I would expect it to be a mix of both, it has to be more of an expense to run physical branches while catering to a smaller market. But I would be amazed if they don't also blow those figures up beyond what's required to cover those extra expenses just because people have no real alternative to switch to. The largest bank had record profits for the last 3 years straight, and I'm not convinced it's just an inflation artefact.

Haven't heard of any postal banks, but digging a little it seems like we did have at least one... which merged with a commercial bank a decade ago. Sounds about right.

I move my money off of banks as soon as possible instead of just letting them have it. I just withdraw the whole account and buy property, stocks, literally anything else. It's what the bank is doing behind my back anyway.