Commission confirms unannounced inspections concerning access to bank account information by competing services

Background and further information:

The inspections followed concerns that the companies involved and/or the associations representing them may have engaged in anti-competitive practices in breach of EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices and/or abuse of dominant market positions. These alleged anti-competitive practices are aimed at excluding non-bank owned providers of financial services by preventing them from gaining access to bank customers' account data, despite the fact that the respective customers have given their consent to such access.

The Commission officials were accompanied by their counterparts from the relevant national competition authorities.

The European Commission confirmed on 6 October 2017 that its officials had conducted unannounced inspections in some Member States concerning online access to bank account information by competing service providers.