Commission attacked for ‘sell-out’ banking paper

Date: 09/05/1996

By Fiona McHugh

CONSUMER groups are accusing the European Commission of selling EU citizens short for failing to propose substantial new measures to control cowboy bankers selling financial services across Union borders.

Despite the flood of complaints about the poor quality of cross-border banking services, the Commission proposes a decidedly light-handed approach to regulating the sector in a draft Green Paper on financial services due to be adopted in the coming weeks.

The discussion paper, entitled Meeting consumers' expectations, proposes that further regulation be held off until a thorough examination of the sector is completed.

Bankers, who have resisted attempts to place a heavier legislative burden on their shoulders, have commended the Commission for adopting a “sensible” approach to the emerging single banking market.

But Jim Murray of the European consumer organisation, BEUC, has launched a withering attack on the paper, saying it demonstrates that, where the Commission is concerned, bankers and not citizens come first.

The Commission, arguing that it cannot afford to overload banks with tough new rules at a time when they are already struggling to cope with the high cost of monetary union, emphatically denies that it is sacrificing consumers on an altar of gold.