Green paper on retail financial services

2016/2056(INI)

The European Parliament adopted by 552 votes to 128, with 11 abstentions, a resolution on the Green paper on retails financial services.

Members found the Green Paper initiative to be timely, given the need to work proactively at all stages of the policymaking process in order to respond efficiently and adequately to developments in such an innovative and fast-changing market.

They emphasised, in particular in order to boost consumer trust and satisfaction, that the Green Paper initiative can succeed only if it has a strong focus on creating an EU market in which well-protected consumers have equal opportunities and access to transparent, straightforward and good-value-for-money products. They acknowledged the positive value of providing customers with simple, safe and standardised products.

The resolution called on the need to:

  • simplify legislation to make products more easily comparable across the Member States’ markets, particularly in the insurance sector;
  • monitor closely the transposition and implementation of this legislation, avoiding duplication and overlaps;
  • promote positive developments in retail finance markets by creating a competitive environment and maintaining a level playing field for all stakeholders, including incumbent operators and new entrants, with rules as technology- and business‑model‑neutral as possible;
  • ensure that greater consumer trust in financial services is necessary, since it remains low, especially with regard to financial products with high currency exchange risks;
  • identify the advantages and risks that digitalisation can bring benefits for retail investors and ensure that the use of personal data and big data by financial service providers should comply with the EU data protection legislation and be strictly limited to what is necessary to provide the service and bring benefits to consumers.

Furthermore, in order for the single market in retail financial services to be efficient and dynamic, there should be no unnecessary or unfair differences between euro and non-euro Member States. The EU-level capacity for data collection and analysis in this field will probably need to be strengthened.

Short-term priorities: Parliament emphasised that the enforcement of EU and national financial and consumer legislation needs to be strengthened and should be consistent and rigorous enforcement thereof across the Member States.

It stressed that the European Supervisory Authorities should step up their activities on consumer and retail investor issues.

The Commission is called upon, inter alia, to:

  • play a more proactive role in using the Capital Markets Union, as part of the implementation of the Paris agreement, to support the growing Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) market by promoting sustainable investments;
  • intensify its work against discrimination on grounds of residence in the European market on retail financial services and, if necessary, to complement the planned general proposals to end unjustified geo-blocking with further legislative initiatives targeted specifically at the financial sector;
  • set up a well-organised and easy-to-use EU comparison portal covering most or all parts of the retail financial services market;
  • present a coherent and comprehensive strategy for making EU-wide cross-border switching easier for the consumer;
  • strengthen the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) structures and to look into the possibility of introducing a European system of collective redress;
  • promote the mutual recognition and interoperability of digital identification techniques, without affecting the level of security of existing systems or their ability to fulfil the requirements of the EU anti-money laundering framework;
  • draw up a plan for establishing a coordinated network of national ‘one-stop shops’ in accordance with the Points of Single Contact, that would assist retail financial firms wishing to make better use of cross-border business opportunities;
  • put forward a proposal on the creation of an 'EU savings account' in order to unlock long-term financing and support ecological transition in Europe.

Parliament reminded the Commission that financial institutions continue to cancel payment cards if the holder moves to another Member State.

Long-term considerations: the Commission is invited to:

  • study further the feasibility, relevance, benefits and costs of removing existing barriers to the cross-border provision of financial services, thus guaranteeing domestic and cross-border portability in various parts of the retail financial services market, for example as regards personal pension and insurance products;
  • monitor attentively the transposition and implementation of the Mortgage Credit Directive attentively and to analyse the impact of this legislation on the retail financial services market;
  • conduct, with the Member States, a joint analysis of the implementation and impact of EU legislation on retail financial services as well as the legal barriers and other remaining obstacles to cross-border operations and to the completion of an EU retail financial services market;
  • analyse what data are necessary to enable lenders to assess the credit-worthiness of their customers and, on the basis of this analysis, and introduce proposals for regulating this assessment process;
  • investigate further the current practices of credit bureaux in relation to the collection, processing and marketing of consumer data with a view to ensuring that they are adequate and not detrimental to consumers’ rights.

Member States should ensure that digital communications and sales related to retail financial services are available in forms accessible to people with disabilities.