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.