Press Release: Commission urges banks to improve cross-frontier payment systems

Banks and credit institutions must do more to ensure inexpensive, efficient and secure small value credit transfers between Member States, the European Commission has warned in a Communication on 'Retail payments in the Internal Market'. In particular, the Communication calls for improvements to the infrastructure for small value cross-frontier credit transfers both within banks and between different Member States' domestic transfer clearing systems. The Commission will evaluate the level of such transfer charges and publish its findings on the Internet every six months. The Communication also calls on banks to remove differences between charges for using payment cards domestically and in other Member States and to improve information on general conditions, fees and charges for payment card customers. As for exchanging cash, the Communication invites banks and bureaux de change to pursue a transparent, customer-friendly pricing policy.