On 15 September 2025, the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) published an opinion (the Opinion) on Private Members’ Bill 55K0223 of 16 September 2024 aiming to facilitate switching banks (Wetsvoorstel tot wijziging van het Wetboek van economisch recht, met het oog op de invoering van een systeem om de overdracht van het internationaal bankrekeningnummer (IBAN) daadwerkelijk mogelijk te maken / Proposition de loi modifiant le Code de droit économique, instaurant un réel système de portabilité des numéros IBAN des comptes bancaires – the Bill).

The Bill includes three parts:

• It introduces a system of bank account number portability (via the IBAN identifier).
• It ensures that customers retain the full history of transactions made to and from that account even after switching to another bank.
• It extends the existing account switching service on payment accounts to regulated savings accounts.

The BCA has examined the banking sector before. On 31 October 2023 the BCA published a report (the 2023 Report), in which it pointed to several shortcomings, including deficiencies in the system for switching accounts that affect the competitive behaviour of banks (see, VBB on Belgian Business Law, Volume 2023, N°12, p. 6).

While focused on the Bill, this new Opinion gives the BCA the opportunity to provide an update of its 2023 findings.
IBAN Portability and Transfer of Full History of Transactions

In its Opinion, the BCA recalls that, in 2023, it recommended conducting a study on the feasibility and costs of introducing a system of IBAN portability in Belgium. This is because a report by the European Commission had concluded that portability at EU level would not be economically viable as the implementation costs were expected to exceed the benefits.

The BCA reaches a similar conclusion regarding Belgium, noting that IBAN portability would cause several issues.

• First, the existing IBAN system links each IBAN number to a specific bank via the BIC code, which an IBAN portability system would compromise.
• Second, the proposed portability system might not comply with Directive 2014/92/EU on the comparability of fees related to payment accounts, payment account switching, and access to payment accounts with basic features (which regulates the circulation of payments in Europe) and with SEPA regulations.
• Third, it would become more difficult for banks to draw up their balance sheets, due to the lack of association between the assets and liabilities of the IBAN number within the bank at the end of the year.
• Fourth, implementing the system would require overcoming technical difficulties and be costly, and these costs might be passed on to consumers.

Additionally, the BCA doubts that introducing this measure would have a significant impact on banking mobility, notably due to the concentration of the Belgian market, growing competition from fintech firms offering products that are not based on the IBAN system, the inertia of Belgian consumers, and the absence of a genuine EU banking area which limits competition from banks from other Member States.

Extension of Portability Rules to Regulated Savings Accounts

The existing account switching service (the Service) is currently limited to payment accounts. It allows consumers to switch banks by filling out a form requesting their new bank to transfer their payment orders and/or close their account with their old bank.

The BCA notes that this would simplify the switch for consumers, increase the number of consumers who can benefit from it (as this Service is currently applied to regulated savings accounts on a voluntary basis only, by most but not all banks), increase competition within the retail banking market (since regulated saving accounts are mainly held by small savers and are the most popular savings products in Belgium), and enhance the effectiveness of the existing Service, as many banks link payment accounts to regulated savings accounts.

However, the BCA also observes possible downsides to this measure. In its view, limiting the extension of the Service to regulated savings accounts could increase the existing tax discrimination between various savings products in favour of the regulated savings accounts. The BCA also considers that the measure will have a limited impact on consumer interbank mobility as the issues which it identified in the 2023 Report (such as bundled sales and loss of loyalty bonus when changing banks) still exist. The practice of banks to limit withdrawals from regulated savings accounts to transfers to an internal bank payment account may also continue discouraging consumers from switching banks, as the consumer must keep a payment account with the bank with which it has its regulated savings account.

Alternative Competition-enhancing Measures

While the BCA supports the objective of strengthening competition in the retail banking market, it considers that the Bill could be difficult to implement and have limited effectiveness. According to the BCA, easier measures that are more likely to increase competition include (i) limiting bundled sales, (ii) integrating the loyalty bonus into the base rate for regulated savings accounts, and (iii) promoting other savings instruments.

As it was submitted by members of an opposition party, this Bill is unlikely to become law in its current form. However, the governmental agreement of 31 January 2025 makes clear that increasing competition in banking and insurance and boosting customer mobility is also a priority of the current federal government (see, VBB Belgian Antitrust Watch of 27 February 2025).