As regards credit mediation, Eurofinas urges policy makers to adopt a differentiated approach and distinguish between brokers, agents and dealers/retailers involved in the distribution of credit at the point of sale. These carry out very different activities using very different processes. Eurofinas therefore recommends using a more precise terminology in future work. Failure to do so would inevitably result in misunderstandings and ill-suited ‘one- size-fits-all’ approaches down the road. Eurofinas notes that no link has been established to date between the recent financial crisis and the behaviour of consumer finance providers in Europe.

 

Referring to the debates held at the public hearing on responsible lending organized by the European Commission on 3 September 2009, Eurofinas’ Director General commented: “While there are undoubtedly things that need to be remedied, it is far from certain that these issues have an EU dimension, concern all types of retail credit products and all types of credit intermediaries”.