Belgium newspaper De morgen reports that Dexia en Base have launched mobile banking as of the begin of December. Customers must be a client of Dexia, must have I-mode at Base (currently 20.000 customers) and must use a special type of GSM (NEC341i). This mobile banking application with the name Dexia Direct Mobile costs 1 euro per month but will be free during the first six month of use.
Yesterdays De Morgen contained an interesting commentary (in Dutch, registration required) by Leo van Hove on the Belgium discussion on 'free' payment transfers. He argues that the call for free-basic banking services stands in the way of achieving more efficient payment systems. So he sees the urgent demand for legislation to make Fortis withdraw its new fee structure for demand deposit accounts, as counter-productive.
