Breaking down barriers to basic payment accounts - A Finance Watch webinar

In this video, Peter Norwood and Dr. Duygu Damar-Blanken explain the findings of the new study published by Finance Watch, which identifies barriers to basic payment accounts for vulnerable consumers in Germany, Spain and Romania. Finance Watch calls on EU policymakers to update the European Payment Accounts Directive (PAD) to address these issues.
In brief:
With the support of our members and partners, Finance Watch conducted a study of the EU basic payment accounts market based on a mystery shopping exercise and qualitative research in three EU Member States, namely Spain, Germany, and Romania. The objective of the study was to gather hard data in the field regarding the effectiveness of PAD and to identify possible changes needed to the directive.
The study findings show that there is a need to revise the PAD to ensure that it can meet its full potential. Many vulnerable consumers do not have access to affordable basic payment accounts in the EU due to a number of factors, including: affordability, awareness, documentation/excessive de-risking issues as well as a lack of willingness by financial institutions to proactively offer and inform consumers about these products.
The report includes four key recommendations for EU policymakers:
1. Mandate basic payment accounts to be free for vulnerable consumers
2. Mandate the offering of basic payment accounts as the default option
3. Enable the opening of basic payment accounts for consumers lacking proper documentation with the proviso that their accounts have more limited features and stricter monitoring requirements
4. Introduce robust and more prescriptive awareness raising measures by firms and Member States
Download the FULL REPORT: www.finance-wa...
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SPEAKERS
Peter Norwood, Senior Research and Advocacy Officer, Finance Watch.
Dr. Duygu Damar-Blanken, Research Associate, Institut für Finanzdienstleistungen e.v. (iff)
MODERATOR
Paul Fox, Senior Research and Advocacy Officer, Finance Watch.
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Finance Watch is a European NGO founded in reaction to the last financial crisis, when policymakers realised that there was no counter-power to the lobby of finance.
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