Are predetermined bank interests considered usury (riba)? And is it true that the reason for prohibiting usury is exploitation, and therefore, if this reason is absent, as in the case of someone taking interest from the bank with the bank's consent, then it becomes permissible?

The benefits that a bank takes on a loan, or that a customer takes on a savings account in commercial banks, are usury (riba) forbidden by the consensus of scholars and Fiqh academies. The claim that the reason for the prohibition of usury is exploitation has no basis; for the Sharia texts forbade usurious transactions that people engaged in of their own free will and consent, such as exchanging gold for gold with a surplus or good dates for bad ones, as in the Hadith of Abu Sa'eed Al-Khudri: "The very essence of riba is the very essence of riba." If the reason were exploitation, the prohibition would be limited to the taker and not the giver, whereas the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, cursed the one who consumes riba, the one who feeds it, its scribe, and its two witnesses, and said: "They are all equal." Scholars have unanimously agreed that every loan that brings a benefit is riba, even if it is a gift that was not customarily given before. Thus, the account holder in the bank is considered a lender to it, and it is not permissible for him to accept any gift or benefit from it, and he must rid himself of any forbidden interest.