Alpha Bank Suspends Monthly Fee for 'myAlpha Benefit Base' Following Court Ruling

Alpha Bank is temporarily suspending the monthly fee for the "myAlpha Benefit Base" service package. The move follows a court decision on a lawsuit filed by Ε.Κ.ΠΟΙ.ΖΩ. (Union of Consumers - Quality of Life, a prominent Greek non-profit consumer advocacy group) and directly affects the bank’s customers, temporarily reducing their service costs until updated notifications are issued.

The Court of First Instance Ruling

The Athens Multi-Member Court of First Instance issued a ruling regarding the representative action brought by the consumer organization EKPOIZO against Alpha Bank. The focus of the legal dispute concerned the banking service package named "myAlpha Benefit Base" and the legality of the general terms and conditions governing it.

According to the bank's official announcement, the court rejected the organization's primary claims. Specifically, it was ruled that the bank's terms fully comply with the current legislative framework, particularly Law 4537/2018 (Greece's transposition of the EU Payment Services Directive II - PSD2) regarding payment services. Therefore, the court decision does not challenge the bank's right to provide this specific service package, nor does it affect the validity of existing contractual relationships with customers who have already selected and are using it.

Information Deficiencies and Fee Suspension

Although the core of the program and the general terms and conditions were found to be legal, the court decision identified certain omissions. In particular, the court expressed judgments regarding the adequacy of specific elements of the written information provided to customers during their enrollment in the program.

In order to fully harmonize with the court's directions, Alpha Bank announced that it will proceed with revised and supplementary notification to its customers, where deemed necessary, resolving the issues identified by the Court of First Instance.

As an immediate compliance measure, and until this new round of notifications is completed, the bank has taken a significant step for the consuming public: it has already ceased the application of the monthly fee for myAlpha Benefit Base. It is clarified that the suspension of this fee applies exclusively to customers who had received the specific written notification that was the subject of the recent litigation.