Online bank or traditional bank: 10 years of fees

Over ten years and for a couple, the gap between the most expensive banking package on the Belgian market and a free online current account reaches 1,920 €. The monthly fee does not settle the question on its own, though: cash withdrawals, the origin of the IBAN and the fund that guarantees deposits often weigh more than the subscription line.

How much does each camp cost over ten years?

The maths is short. Annual cost of the account, multiplied by two holders, multiplied by ten years. Here is what the Belgian market gives with fees surveyed on 31 July 2026, including the KBC increases of 1 January 2026.

Fees surveyed on the institutions' own websites on 31 July 2026 by Switchr. KBC Compte Plus, basic account and CBC Pure Online: rates in force since 1 January 2026, announced by the bank in October 2025. Accounts at 0 € are free under conditions of online management or minimum usage.

Two clarifications are needed on this table. The KBC Compte Plus still appears at 45 € a year in several comparison sites: it moved from 3.75 € to 4.25 € a month on 1 January 2026, so 51 € a year. And Argenta's Formule Green, surveyed at 24 € a year, actually costs between 0 and 48 € depending on usage, as set out in our article on the Compte Green.

A "free" bank does not exist: there are those whose fees you pay in euros, and those whose fees you pay in closed branches.

The monthly fee is not the line that opens the gap

Take a KBC customer on the basic account, at 30 € a year. He withdraws cash once a week, at the Bancontact CASH point installed after his branch closed. KBC treats that CASH point as another bank's machine: only the first 24 withdrawals of the year are free there, and each one after that costs 0.50 €.

Twenty-eight chargeable withdrawals, 14 € a year. The account therefore comes to 44 € a year, close to double an ING Do More advertised at 22.80 €, and far above a CBC Pure Online at zero. The ranking in the table above flips on a single line of behaviour.

The same reasoning applies to the credit card, almost never included in an account advertised as free, and to payments outside the euro area, where the currency conversion commission frequently exceeds 2 % of the amount. Those are the lines nobody compares, and they are the ones that decide.

What do you give up by dropping the branch?

Less than ten years ago, and the figure can be measured. Belgium had 2,865 bank branches in 2025, spread across 76 active banks, 6 % fewer than in 2024. On the cash side, 3,379 cash machines remained, against more than 8,000 a decade earlier.

The Batopin network, set up jointly by Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, ING and KBC, had around 750 CASH points in service at the end of 2025, with a target of 1,040 by the end of 2026. The rebuild is real, but it stays well below the original fleet.

The branch you give up by going online has a fair chance of having closed already.

A Belgian online bank and a European neobank are not under the same law

The confusion is constant, and it costs the hurried reader dearly.

CBC Pure Online, Beobank, Hello bank!, Keytrade and Argenta are credit institutions under Belgian law, supervised in Brussels, with a BE IBAN. N26 and Revolut operate in Belgium from another member state, under the EU passport, with the regime of their home country.

Does the deposit guarantee cover the same thing everywhere?

The ceiling does: 100,000 € per person and per bank, harmonised across the European Union. The body that pays does not.

A deposit held with a Belgian bank falls under the Guarantee Fund hosted by the federal finance department, the Fonds de Garantie. With N26, licensed in Germany, the German scheme steps in. With Revolut, licensed in Lithuania, the Lithuanian scheme. And Keytrade Bank, the Belgian branch of Arkéa Direct Bank, falls under the French fund, as set out in our article on the Keypack.

Four lines to check before switching

The fee information document, compulsory and standardised across Europe, holds the four figures that decide. It takes five minutes to read, and we have set out the method.

• The total annual cost of the account, cards included, rather than the headline package price.
• The number of free withdrawals outside the bank's own network, and the unit price beyond that.
• The currency conversion commission applied to payments and withdrawals outside the euro area, as a percentage and as a minimum amount.
• The competent guarantee fund, which is not always Belgian and which sits in the general terms, never on the product page.

Who still has reason to pay 51 € a year?

Three profiles, and none of them is marginal.

First, anyone preparing a mortgage: a relationship with a named adviser, in a bank that already holds the account history, remains a negotiating lever that the purely digital channel does not yet replace. Second, anyone handling cash, a shopkeeper or a self-employed worker, for whom depositing notes at a counter has no online equivalent. Third, anyone managing a power of attorney, an estate or an elderly relative's account, situations where the counter saves weeks.

Then there are those who will not or cannot go digital. The universal banking service (service bancaire universel) at KBC and CBC rose to 3.75 € a month in January 2026, so 45 € a year. The basic banking service (service bancaire de base), reserved for people who cannot open an account anywhere else, rose from 1.25 € to 1.65 € a month, so 19.80 € a year. An account framed by law for the most vulnerable therefore now costs more than several online accounts open to everyone.

Online and branch accounts add up more often than they compete

Many households already run both without having decided to. The Belgian account receives the salary, carries the direct debits and anchors the credit relationship; the European app handles travel and purchases in other currencies. The trade-off is therefore rarely between two camps: it turns on what each account costs for the role it is given.

To place a specific institution, our ranking of Belgian banks sets out annual costs and savings rates bank by bank, and the bank comparison tool puts two packages side by side. On fees alone, our survey of Belgian bank charges breaks down the calculation line by line.

Sources

• L'Avenir, The number of bank branches has fallen below 3,000 in Belgium: 2,865 branches in 2025, 76 active banks, 3,379 cash machines, 14 million mobile banking subscriptions, Febelfin figures, 2 April 2026.
• Febelfin, Facts and figures: annual statistics of the Belgian banking sector, consulted on 6 September 2026.
• Test-Achats, KBC raises its current account fees from 1 January 2026: Compte Plus at 4.25 € a month, basic account at 2.50 €, universal banking service at 3.75 €, basic banking service at 1.65 €, and the rule of 24 free withdrawals at CASH points, 15 October 2025.
• Switchr, Bank accounts in Belgium: full comparison: 22 plans from 14 providers, fees surveyed on 31 July 2026, page updated on 1 September 2026.
• L'Avenir, Batopin to install 150 new cash machines by April 2026: around 750 CASH points in service, target of 1,040 by the end of 2026, 31 October 2025.
• Belgian federal finance department, Guarantee Fund, frequently asked questions: cover of 100,000 € per person and per bank, consulted on 6 September 2026.
• Wikifin (FSMA), Comparing current accounts: public comparison tool and standardised fee information document, consulted on 6 September 2026.
• Business AM, Argenta also changes the price of its current account: the Golden package rising to 6.95 € a month on 1 April 2026, published on 26 January 2026.