NEWS Release - Consumer Financial Services Action Plan: Better products and more choice for European consumers - Brussels, 23 March 2017
Consumer Financial Services Action Plan: Better products and more choice for European consumers
The European Commission is today presenting an Action Plan that sets out ways to provide European consumers with greater choice and better access to financial services across the EU. At the heart of today's launch is a focus on technology, given that innovative online services will drive progress towards a more integrated market for financial services. To that end, we are also publishing a consultation on technology and its impact on the European financial services sector (so called ‘FinTech') to spur our work in this area.
President Juncker's Commission has committed to developing a deeper and fairer Single Market, including through digital means. In terms of financial services, this means enhancing competition and improving choice so that consumers can enjoy lower prices and better quality, regardless of whether or not they shop abroad for financial services such as bank accounts, car insurance and money transfers.
This Action Plan seeks to prise open national barriers as only 7% of consumers currently buy financial services from another EU Member State. All consumers should be able to choose freely from a wide range of financial services available across the EU and get the best value for their money while being confident that they are well protected. In a true Single Market, the distinction between domestic and foreign providers should no longer matter. Financial service providers should also be able to reap the benefits of the EU's entire market.
Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President responsible for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, said: "European consumers and firms should be able to take full advantage of a true Single Market for financial services. Consumers should have access to the best products available across the EU, not just within their own country. At the same time, we want to explore the full potential of the technology that's out there. If harnessed well, it has the potential to change for the better the financial industry and the way people access financial services."
Jyrki Katainen, Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness said: "This ambitious Action Plan presents targeted measures that will gradually deepen our Single Market and have a real impact on the lives of European citizens. When we launched the Capital Markets Union, we pledged to improve access to finance and consumer financial services for the good of consumers and businesses, while also keeping pace with developments in financial technologies.”
Věra Jourová, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality said, “While the right to move freely within the EU continues to be the most cherished right of Europeans, consumers in the EU are still experiencing too many barriers in their daily lives. Be it when opening a bank account, when buying car insurance or asking for credit: as soon as there is a cross-border dimension, things get complicated. Today we map out a plan to give consumers better products and more choice, improving clarity and protection of financial services.”
The Action Plan
The Commission has identified three main strands of further work to move a step closer to a genuine Single Market for financial services:
Increase consumer trust and empower consumers when buying services at home or from other Member States. Among other things, we want to make it easier for drivers to take their no-claims bonus ('bonus-malus') abroad. We also want to reduce fees for cross-border transactions involving non-Euro currencies and we will be taking steps towards more transparent pricing of car rental insurance.
Reduce legal and regulatory obstacles affecting businesses when seeking to expand abroad. This will include working on common creditworthiness assessment criteria and facilitating the exchange of data between credit registers.
Support the development of an innovative digital world which can overcome some of the existing barriers to the Single Market. We will work with the private sector to explore how they could use electronic identification and trust services for checking the identity of customers. We will also monitor the practices of digital providers to decide if rules for selling financial services remotely - such an online or by phone - should be updated.
The Commission has already tackled many of the regulatory obstacles to the Single Market in consumer financial services through EU legislation. Today's Action Plan sets out a roadmap for further work. Many of the actions will need to involve stakeholders such as national supervisory authorities, service providers and consumer organisations.
page source http://europa.eu/
