Use ING it's free, as long as you use that for your income.

Never heard of 40eur/month - that seems like you have some sort of super premium account with multiple credit cards or so.

> My first guess would be that Europeans have a perception that their banks are exploiting them, and given any other rational option they will try it out.

Because that's the case! Most banks are STILL giving you 0.001% as interest, which is a joke considering everything happening around. Some banks are promising 3% p.a. for X months only (for new accounts only) - they really don't want to lose a cent. What other option do we have? Burning money on the bank with inflation going up like crazy and banks getting, as usual, even richer.