"It is possible for banks affiliated to Bank Data to charge a clicking fee, but it is completely individual, whether they choose to do so or not, we do not take care of the charging," Ole Laugesen, account manager at Bank Data, told Danish finance newspaper Finans.
A business customer who wished to remain anonymous was charged 176.5 DKK for having made 353 clicks, equal to 50 cents per click.
"I was wondering what it possibly could be because I knew I had not made such money transactions from my corporate banking, and when I called and checked up on it, I was told that it was a 'clicking fee' which corporate clients are expected to pay," a client who wished to remain anonymous said, as quoted by Danish TV channel TV2. "I must admit that I almost could not believe my ears," he added.
The welling public outrage prompted Denmark's fourth largest bank to scrap the fee, which was dubbed a "transaction tax."
"When one clicks around in there, one activates a data stream, which obviously has a price. However, we have listened to the customers' complaints of lack of transparency and have therefore decided to drop the transaction fee," Dan Prangsgaard, Sydbank communications manager, told TV2.
"Today, you pay a fixed price for the product available. You do not pay this transaction tax anymore, unless you make money transfers," Dan Prangsgaard explained.
Remarkably, Danske Bank had a similar practice, yet abandoned it in 2013.
