40 Amendments of Olle LUDVIGSSON related to 2012/2055(INI)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the smooth functioning of the internal market and development of a modern, socially inclusive economy depends on the universal provision of affordable and easily accessible basic banking services and of a socially responsible banking sector;
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas access to basic banking services is a precondition for consumers to benefit from the internal market, notably from cross-border migration, money transfer and the purchase of goods and services at non-discriminatoryreasonable transaction costs; whereas the annual opportunity cost of not having access to a payment account is estimated at between EUR 185 to EUR 365 per consumer;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas payment service providers, acting in accordance with market logic, tend to focus on commercially attractive consumers, leaving vulnerablless attractive consumers without the same choice of products; whereas industry codes as initiated in Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Ireland, Slovenia and Luxembourg have largely been a result of public pressure and demands for legislative initiatives; whereas self-regulation instruments have had positivemixed results but, at the same time,and have failed to effectively guarantee universal access to a basic bank account;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas legislative approaches to ensure universal access to basic banking services have had satisfactory results in Belgium and France where the number of unbanked citizens has dropped by 75 % and 30 % respectively, as well as in Finland and Denmark where close to 100 % of households are covered by banking services;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas in order to be effective a basic bankpayment account needs to be straightforward to open, even for those with non-standard proof of identity and to provide a specified range of core services, and there need to be measures in place for effective supervision and settlement of conflicts as well as for facilitating access to these accounts for consumers with no fixed address or without standard proof of identity;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)
Recital J a (new)
Ja. whereas payment service providers, in the context of providing basic banking services, should apply customer due diligence requirements set out in anti- money laundering and anti-terrorist financing legislation in a balanced and proportional manner; whereas nobody should be denied access to or be disqualified from a basic payment account on these grounds unless there are well- founded and objective reasons for doing so; whereas such legislation should never be used as an unfounded pretext for rejecting commercially less attractive consumers;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K
Recital K
K. whereas as part of their corporate social responsibility strategies, bankpayment service providers should sharbe responsibility with public authorities and civil societyle for the provision ofding access to a basic banking services withoutpayment account either free of charge or at a reasonable cost;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas any EU initiative to ensure access to basic banking services must include protection against garnishment, to establish consumers' trust and prevent costs respect national provisions on the protection against garnising from unused accouhments;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M
Recital M
M. whereas distortions of competition must be prevented and consumers' needs in under-banked regions must be taken into account and hence the scope of the initiative should be as broad as possible; whereas, in addition to credit institutions, access to core basic banking services cshould as well be provided by other relevant payment service providers regulated by Directive 2007/64/EC;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N a (new)
Recital N a (new)
Na. whereas the employees at payment service providers offering basic payment accounts to commercially less attractive consumers should be given adequate training, sufficient time and reasonably adapted sales targets in the context of dealing with this customer group;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Considers that the requested proposal does not have any financial implications for the EU budget;
Amendment 75 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 1 – paragraph -1 (new)
Annex – recommendation 1 – paragraph -1 (new)
-1. A “basic payment account” should be defined as a payment account offered in line with the provisions of this legislation. Payment accounts of a basic nature that do not fully comply with these provisions should not be considered to be covered by this term.
Amendment 77 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 1 – paragraph 1
Annex – recommendation 1 – paragraph 1
1. The legislation should oblige as many ll payment service providers as possible, as defined in Article 4(9) of Directive 2007/64/EC, to provide basic bhat offer payment accounts to consumers as ank ing servicestegral part of the regular business to provide a basic payment account.
Amendment 84 #
2. HoweverAccordingly, in order to avoid undue burdens on payment service providers not offering services not linked to those required for a basic bank account, the following shouldpayment accounts to consumers, the following providers should normally be exempt from the obligation to provide such ana basic payment account:
Amendment 87 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 1 – paragraph 3
Annex – recommendation 1 – paragraph 3
3. Member States should be permitted to exempt, as long as it does not disproportionally harm competition or the right of access for consumers, be permitted to exempt the following providers from the obligation to provide a basic bankpayment account:
Amendment 99 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 1 – paragraph 4
Annex – recommendation 1 – paragraph 4
4. AnyMember States should be allowed to oblige payment service providers exempted under point (a) of point 3 shouldto contribute to a compensatory fund, unless the provider is operating at a non-profit basis.
Amendment 108 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 2 – paragraph 6
Annex – recommendation 2 – paragraph 6
6. The legislation should ensuEach Member State should be required that it is not undo set up a national register for specific information related to basic payment accounts. The register shoulyd burdensome for consumers to demonstrate that te used for the compilation of statistical data and for the verification of whether or not a consumer applying for a basic payment account already holds such an account with a different payment service provider in the same Member State. They do not already hold a basic bank account, and provide for a declaration by the consumer to that effect during the application processata should be as narrow as possible and the register should fully respect the integrity of the consumers involved. Every basic payment account should be entered into the register when the account is opened and deleted when the account is closed. Every refusal to grant a basic payment account should be anonymously registered together with the motivation. These refusal entries should be deleted from the register after no more than one year. Payment service providers should turn to the national authority responsible for this register to verify that a consumer applying for a basic payment account does not already hold such an account in that Member State.
Amendment 118 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 2 – paragraph 7
Annex – recommendation 2 – paragraph 7
7. The right to access a basic bank account should apply irrespective of the consumer's nationality or place of residence in the Union. Criteria such as the level or regularity of income, employment, credit history, level of indebtedness, individual situation regarding bankruptcy or future activityexpected turnover of the account should not be taken into account for the opening a basic bank account. Access to a basic bank account should under no circumstances be made conditional on the purchase of other products or services, for instance insurance.
Amendment 121 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 2 – paragraph 8
Annex – recommendation 2 – paragraph 8
8. The legislation should be applied without prejudice to Union rules, in particular providers’ obligation to refuse access to or terminate thea basic bankpayment account contract in exceptional circumstances under relevant Union or national legislation, such as legislation on money laundering. The and terrorist financing. An account may also be refused or closed in case of imposture, abuse of confidence or falsification of documents.
Amendment 123 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 2 – paragraph 9
Annex – recommendation 2 – paragraph 9
9. Member States should be obliged to ensure that customer due diligence procedures do not lead to discriminatory practices, for instance against minorities and marginalised groups, migrants, ethnic or religious minorities or people with no fixed address. Therefore, sor to unnecessarily inflexible treatment of consumers with no fixed address or without standard proof of identity. Special consideration should be given to the meanusing targeted measures and procedures by which peopleconsumers with no fixed address or standard proof of identity can satisfy due diligence requirements and n. National best practices should be taken into account in order to effectively guarantee access to a core range of essential payment servicethis regard. If needed, Member States should set up specific schemes in support of these consumers where competent authorities and social services, in cooperation with payment service providers, establish solid and secure non- standard tools for pragmatically solving address and identification problems.
Amendment 128 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 2 – paragraph 10
Annex – recommendation 2 – paragraph 10
10. To facilitate this, basic bank accounts should be classifiedMember States should be allowed to classify basic payment accounts as low-risk products in accordance with Article 3(3) of Commission Directive 2006/70/EC implementing Directive 2005/60;/EC. Accordingly, providers shouldmay be obliged to apply simplified customer due diligence requirements and t. The Commission should aim to further harmonise nationalclarify interpretations of anti- money laundering rules to ensure that it can no longer be used to dand anti-terrorist financing rules to ensure that they, in the context of basic banking services, are applied in a balanced and proportional way. Nobody should be denied access to or be disqualified from a basic paymenyt access to a basic bank account. ount on these grounds unless there are well-founded and objective reasons for doing so. Such rules should never be used as an unfounded pretext for rejecting commercially less attractive consumers.
Amendment 129 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 2 – paragraph 11
Annex – recommendation 2 – paragraph 11
11. The legislation should oblige payment service providers to act transparently in relation to a decision to deny or close a basic bankpayment account, while respecting legislation on money laundering and terrorist financing as well as on the prevention and investigation of crimes. In order to allow the consumer to question the payment service provider's decision, the payment service provider should inform the consumer in writing of the reason for the refusal to open or decision to close a basic bankpayment account. The provider should also be obliged to inform the consumer about possibilities for alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.
Amendment 136 #
14. The payment service provider should not offer, explicitly or tacitly, any overdraft facilities or overrunning in conjunction with a basic bank account. A payment order to the consumer’s payment service provider should not be executed where such an execution would result in a negative balance of the consumer’s basic bank account. Access to credit should not be considered as a component of or a right relatattached to a basic bank account, whatever the purpose or the form of the credit. Payment service providers could, where not inappropriate, offer credit products as separate services to basic payment account customers, as long as the access to and use of the basic account is in no way restricted by or made conditional on the purchase of such products.
Amendment 142 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 15
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 15
15. Access to a basic bankpayment account should be free of chargeoffered either free of charge or at a reasonable cost. If fees are charged, they should be such that no consumer is prevented from opening and using a basic payment account on cost-related grounds.
Amendment 147 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 15 a (new)
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Payment service providers should be required to ensure that, among the products that they offer, the basic payment account is always – no matter how the comparison is made – the most affordable account for carrying out basic payment transactions.
Amendment 148 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 15 b (new)
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 15 b (new)
15b. In order to guarantee that costs for basic payment services do not in effect get unreasonable, every Member State should be required to establish an upper limit for how high the total annual fees related to opening and using a basic payment account are allowed to be. While such an upper limit should be adapted to national circumstances – for example general consumer price levels and average charges associated with regular payment accounts – it should in no Member State be fixed at a level higher than EUR 15, or, for non-euro Member States, the equivalent amount expressed in the applicable national currency.
Amendment 149 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 15 c (new)
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 15 c (new)
15c. Member States should be allowed to specify that no more than a maximum number of transactions – possibly allocated across the different transaction categories – should be covered by the total annual fees under the upper limit. However, such transaction caps must always leave enough room for consumers to be able to carry out all normal everyday transactions without exceeding the maximum numbers. If maximum numbers of transactions are surpassed, the extra transactions should be charged at reasonable cost. Payment service providers should always alert consumers that are close to exceeding maximum numbers.
Amendment 150 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 15 d (new)
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 15 d (new)
15d. Default charges should, in this context, not be included when calculating total annual fees.
Amendment 155 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 16
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 16
16. Any default charges should be affordreasonable and at least as favourable as the provider’s usual pricing policy. The legislation should ensure that the consumer does not bear any fee or penalty arising from circumstances independent of his/her will, such as insufficient funds in his account due to late payment of wages or social benefits.
Amendment 160 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 17 – section A – point -(a) (new)
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 17 – section A – point -(a) (new)
-(a) services enabling all the operations required for the opening, operating and closing of a payment account;
Amendment 161 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 17– section A – subparagraph
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 17– section A – subparagraph
Amendment 169 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 17– section B -point (c)
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 17– section B -point (c)
(c) the execution of standing orders, including interbank executions, in Member States where its use is necessary for the execution of essential transactions;
Amendment 170 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 17– section B -point (d)
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 17– section B -point (d)
(d) the execution of direct debit including interbank executions in Member States where its use is necessary for the execution of essential transactions.
Amendment 174 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 17– section B -subparagraph 1
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 17– section B -subparagraph 1
For the execution of these services under A and B, the consumer should be entitled to non- discriminatory access to the different channels offered by the provider, such as manual transactions, transactions via ATM, online banking and phone banking. Member States should define a sufficient number of standard payment transactions that the provider must, on request, set up and execute on a monthly basis without imposing any charges, regardless of the channel used by the consumer. Where the consumer risks excee over the counter in branches, transactions via ATM, including othe maximum number of free transactions the provider should be requir providers’ ATMs whered to inform the consumer accordingly. The provider should be permitted either to charge additional transactions in a cost-based way and aligned with its usual pricing policy or to refuse the execution of transactions. The provider should be permitted to demand a cost-based one-off charge for providing a payment cardechnically possible, online banking and phone banking.
Amendment 177 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 17– section C
Annex – recommendation 3 – paragraph 17– section C
Amendment 187 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 4 – paragraph 18 a (new)
Annex – recommendation 4 – paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. The consumers targeted by the introduction of basic payment accounts make up a customer group with specific interests and needs. In order to ensure that this group can be serviced in an attentive and accommodating way, the employees at payment service providers offering these accounts should in that context be given adequate training, sufficient time and reasonably adapted sales targets.
Amendment 201 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 4 – paragraph 23
Annex – recommendation 4 – paragraph 23
23. Member States should be required to ensure that providers on a continuous basis provide national authorities with reliable information at least on the number of basic bank accounts opened, the number ofon basic payment accounts opened and closed as well as on the applications for basic bankpayment accounts that are refused and the grounds for such refusals, the number of terminations of such accounts. Such information should be provided in an agg. This data should be compiled in the national registers for specific information related to basic payment accounts. Providers should also make detailed information available to national authorities on the costs reglated formto basic payment accounts.
Amendment 214 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 5 – paragraph 27
Annex – recommendation 5 – paragraph 27
27. Member States should closely monitor any distortions of competition between providers of basic bank accounts. Where a number of providers disproportionately shoulder the cost of providing basic bank accounts, financial compensation shcould be provided. While in under-banked Member States, additional support for the development of adequate infrastructure should be considered, intra-sector redistribution mechanisms should be sufficient in Member States with high bank account penetration. Competent authorities shouldmay facilitate the creation of a compensation fund to be financed by payment service providers within the scope of the legislation. Should the number of basic bank accounts be disproportionate to the economic importance of the individual provider, the provider shouldmay be entitled to benefit from compensatory payments.
Amendment 218 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 5 – paragraph 28
Annex – recommendation 5 – paragraph 28
28. Member States should be obliged to ensure that appropriate and effective complaints and redress procedures are established for the out-of-court settlement of disputes concerning the rights and obligations established under the principles set out in the legislation between payment service providers and consumers, using existing bodies where appropriate. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) bodies need to be independent, easily accessible and its services free of charge. Its decisions should be legally binding. In order to ensure its impartiality, equal representation of providers, consumers and other users needs to be ensured. Member States should be required to ensure that all basic bank account providers adhere to one or more such bodies implementing such complaint and redress procedures.
Amendment 230 #
Proposal for a recommendation
Annex – recommendation 6 – paragraph 32 – point (c)
Annex – recommendation 6 – paragraph 32 – point (c)
(c) further harmonise nationalclarify interpretations of anti- money laundering and anti-terrorist financing rules in order to ensure that such rules can no longer be used as an argument to deny access to a basic bank accountare never used as an unfounded pretext for rejecting commercially less attractive consumers;