Basic banking services for all – guide

Basic banking services should be a legal right for the 10 per cent of EU citizens who currently have none, including homeless people, people on very low incomes, students, and people with no credit record and expatriate workers, the European Parliament said on 4 July. MEPs called on the European Commission to table legislation by January 2013 to tackle this financial exclusion.

Here is a summary of the European Parliament’s demands:

• A basic payment account should allow the making of essential payment transactions such as receiving income or benefits, paying bills, purchasing goods online etc.
• The European Parliament calls for the adoption of a binding instrument (an EU Directive);
• All payment service providers (e.g. banks) that offer payment accounts to consumers, should in principle provide such basic payment accounts;
• Basic accounts should be accessible to all consumers: Consumers should be able to close their ‘regular’ payment account in order to convert or shift to a ‘basic’ payment account;
• Access to a basic payment account should be offered free of charge or at least at a reasonable cost. If fees are to be charged, they should be transparent. EU Member States should establish an upper limit for the total annual fees related to opening and using a basic payment account;
• A basic payment account should allow for the possibility of providing small overdrafts as a buffer to cover temporary negative balances;
• Member States, the Commission and payment service providers should provide consumers with necessary and understandable information about the availability of basic payment accounts;
• Harmonisation of anti-money laundering rules: The Commission should propose initiatives aiming at further clarification of interpretations of anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing rules, in order to ensure that such rules are never used as an unfounded pretext for rejecting commercially less attractive consumers