The consumer is not adequately served in his needs for financial services, Kuneva regretted and criticized the lack of transparency in comparing costs of bank accounts.
The consumer is not adequately served in his needs for financial services, European Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva regretted. Consumers still find it difficult to compare financial offers such as offers for current accounts, mortgages or investment services, she said. Incomprehensible information and insufficient information are also among the most important perceived obstacles to cross-border shopping for retail financial services.
To overcome these obstacles financial education and pre-contractual information must be improved, and the general lack of transparency within the financial services industry has to be addressed.
“A predictable result of our focus groups was that people wanted clear and complete information, without jargon”, the commissioner said. “Additionally, consumers overwhelmingly prefer standardised information sheets that ease comparison.” A European Standard Information Sheet (ESIS) will be available for consumers when they inquire about consumer credits once the Consumer Credit Directive is implemented in May 2010, she explained.
“Our focus groups have already tested a slightly revised version of this form for mortgages and we are also collecting results in the investment area”, Kuneva added.
Kuneva harshly criticized the lack of transparency in comparing costs of bank accounts and announced a report on retail banking services for next year. Preliminary findings show that even expert contractors had great difficulty in untangling the information displayed on the banks' websites.
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