Brussels, 06/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 5 Jun, the Commission published the expert group report on Customer Mobility in relation to Bank Accounts, following the adoption of the payment services directive (see EUROPE 9413) and publication of the recent Green Paper on retail financial services (see EUROPE 9417). The expert group, which is made up of experts having banking industry, consumer and academic backgrounds, considered three points: changing banks within the same member state, changing from a bank in one member state to a bank in another, and the opening of a bank account in a member state without being physically present in that member state. Opinion was divided within the group on how best to remove obstacles to client mobility. The group came up with the 37 recommendations, some with unanimous support, and other with varying degrees of support, contained in the report and put out by the Commission for consultation until 1 September 2007.
The consumer representatives said that changing banks was difficult for a number of reasons: information on products and prices is not transparent or comparable, and difficult to obtain; the transactions involved in such a change are complex and numerous; charges for closing an account in some member states increase the cost of mobility. People tended, then, to keep “phantom” accounts in a bank which they left to open another account in a different bank. The banking industry does not share this view: the information is there and the red tape involved in changing from one bank to another is more a matter of perception than reality. In addition, the payment services directive will abolish closure charges for contracts of over 12 months. Among the recommendations put forward, the portability of bank account number in the event of a change of provider, as the Swedish “Bankgiro” system allows, would, according to the banking industry, require “massive” changes to the infrastructure of each bank. (mb)