2023-08-28 15:32:55
The rush of savers for the new government bond continues, but limits on transfers and waiting times complicate subscription.
This result largely smashes the record for “good Leterme”, thanks to which the State had raised 5.7 billion euros 12 years ago. According to Jean Deboutte, director of the Debt Agency, the harvest is well above expectations. It is also a safe bet that the final amount will be significantly higher. Investors can subscribe until Friday, September 1. The milestone of 20 billion euros seems to be a real possibility.
9
Billions of Euro’s
In just two days of subscription, the amount collected for the one-year State bond amounts to nearly 9 billion euros.
However, some problems have appeared in recent days in terms of subscriptions, explains Jean Deboutte. “Unfortunately, we receive many complaints indicating that raising the limit to make the transfer is not smooth. Many people are frustrated that banks don’t allow not transfers immediately because they follow certain procedures from certain amounts. Some people think it was the Debt Agency that refused them, but that’s not the case.”
To avoid possible abuse, banks have capped the amounts customers can transfer per day or per week. At ING Belgium and BNP Paribas Fortis, this limit is 25,000 euros per day for an online transfer. At KBC, she is 10.000 euros and at Belfius, it is 25,000 euros per week. The limits are usually lower for those who wish to make a transfer using their banking application.
Savers who wish to subscribe to the new State bond for large amounts may therefore be confronted with these limits, whether they subscribe directly with the Debt Agency or via their bank. Banks nevertheless allow their customers to temporarily increase their limits to allow large transfers. But it may take time, sometimes several working days. Savers who come up once morest the limits imposed by their bank may therefore not unable to invest the full amount desired in the new state bond.
Circumvention of procedures
Savers are therefore seeking to circumvent the procedures. “My wife and I wanted to invest 100,000 euros in the state bond and had placed this money in a bpost Bank account”, says a saver who preferred to remain anonymous. “But at the branch, I was told that the bank was not authorized to make transfers of this magnitude. We weren’t told what we might do. So we went to KBC, but were told that transferring our money from bpost Bank to KBC might take ten working days. In this case, it was no longer possible to invest in the State bond. So we ended up proceed in stages. On the first day, my wife and I subscribed for 25,000 euros each and we did the same on the second day. That’s still not a way to go, is it?”
“Double transfers lead to additional administrative costs, while the campaign is already a lot of work. We ask everyone to cooperate well.”
Jean Deboutte
Director of the Debt Agency
Bank branches and call centers are inundated with questions regarding the government bond, further slowing down the process for investors wishing to increase limits for their transfers. “When you call KBC Live, following a few minutes you get an answering machine asking you to call back later,” sighs a saver.
Customers can ask their bank to temporarily increase the limits for their transfers. The time frame depends on the bank and the differences can be significant. At BNP Paribas Fortis, for example, the online increase in limits only takes effect following two days. ING Belgium, for its part, speaks of a period of four hours. Belfius and KBC have not responded to our requests for information on this subject for the moment.
Multiple subscriptions
In order to be able to help their customers, banks sometimes make multiple subscriptions instead of increasing the limits. The staff of the Debt Agency are not very satisfied with this situation, knowing that it entails additional work within the Agency, explains Jean Deboutte. “Needless to say, we don’t really appreciate that. Anyway, the campaign is a lot of work. We ask everyone to cooperate“.
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