Activities of Gianni PITTELLA related to 2007/2201(INI)
Plenary speeches (2)
Competition: Sector inquiry on retail banking - Retail Financial Services in the Single Market (debate)
Competition: Sector inquiry on retail banking - Retail Financial Services in the Single Market (debate)
Reports (1)
REPORT Communication from the Commission: Sector Inquiry under Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 on retail banking (Final Report) PDF (170 KB) DOC (94 KB)
Amendments (8)
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recommends low or non-existent closing costs in order to encourage mobility and competition; requests the Commissionencourages operators in the sector to define best practices on swift and efficient procedures for account switching, taking into account both at national level, in the light both of existing best practices and of the duration of the procedure and the costs associated with it; is of the opinion that to switch current accounts should not cause any harm to customers; is against any unnecessary contractual links impeding customers'’ mobility;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Is of the opinion that information to consumers is essential but not, per se, sufficifundamental to ensureing competition betweenamong banks; requests information that is better quality and more readable and hence actually accessible to consumers; is of the opinion that, for the time being, it is difficult and costly for consumers to obtain that information; calls for the development of financial education programmes aimed at increasing the awareness of consumers as regards their money management options;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Recommends the creation of a single European prospectus for providers to describe their basic products, related costs and conditionsconsisting of a section listing standardised cost items for the various countries, in order to allow an easy and transparent comparison that tied products do not allow at the moment; recommends the setting up of an independent European controller to guarantee the quality of the information provided as well as a Europe-wide research engine to allow easy and free cross-border comparisonan electronic platform enabling the customer/user to access individual national comparative platforms;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Stresses the importance of reliable data for banks to grant credits, accessible on a fair and transparent basis; insists nevertheless on the necessity to protect consumers' personal data; requests the Commission to make proposals for the interoperability of data registers while respecting consumers' private lives and rights of access and rectification;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Commission to intensify its work on credit intermediarieagents/brokers in order to ensure consumer protection and avoid mis-opaque selling practices which are particularly damaging to more vulnerable populations;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Requests the Commission to clarify and harmonise the rights and liabilities of intermediariecredit agents/brokers, since problems often arise in the sale, administration and enforcement of financial services agreements; requests the Commission to distinguish clearly between information which has to be clear, concise, readable and cost-free and the provision of advisory services;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Notes that the Commission has repeatedly qualified multilateral interchange fees as anti-competitive and consequently requested the industry to abolish them; is of the opinion that the Commission should provide stakeholders with clear indiand many national competition authorities have stated on numerous occasions that multilateral interchange fees (MIFs) are not prohibited per se under Article 81 of the EC Treaty; nevertheless notes that the Commission has on numerous occatsions, guidelines and transparency requirements focused its attention on thate could enable the industry to ensure a fair and transparent calculation method, compatible with EC competitionmpatibility of an MIF system with Community antitrust law;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Believes in a strong need for better clarification concerning the methodology and rules for the management of multilaterally agreed interchange fees for ATMs and non-card payments; recalls that the SEPA direct debit scheme and the SEPAand credit transfer scheme are two sided networks creating economic benefits thanks to network effects; asks the Commission to provide a balancing mechanism in orders, such as those under SEPA, support services that are jointly offered by two payment service providers and jointly requested by two distribute more evenly the costs and benefits of network membershipcustomers, creating economic benefits thanks to so-called network effects; suggests to the Commission to define and communicate to all stakeholders the criteria for the definition by market operators of a methodology to be used to calculate all multilaterally agreed interchange fees, of which the Commission may hence take note, in order to ensure a real level playing field and the enforcement of all competition rules;