Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis made it clear that the Government would not accept large bank fees for digital and non-banking transactions, especially as it is endorsing and promoting the use of plastic money and electronic transactions, during a meeting with top bankers at Maximos Hall on Thursday.

According to sources, the PM opened the meeting by calling on the bankers to do something about the increases. “You have announced increases. We cannot accept this. It is extremely negative. Increases are not justified when we are in a much better economic environment. We have to remain in the previous status.”

During the meeting, among other matters discussed were lower commissions, securitisation and the Iraklis plan (a design aimed at aiding banks to deal with non-performing loans), as well as measures for the protection of primary residences.

On their part, the bankers promised to review their pricing policy and to make adjustments where necessary.

The matter of protecting the primary residence of vulnerable borrowers received special attention and the current status as few of the tens of thousands of applications have been approved so far.

The matter was agreed to be looked into in great detail in conjunction with the Katselis Law as well as improvements to the out-of-court settlement system to make the proceedings more effective.