European regulatory and legislative issues

In 2006 around seventy percent of changes to the FSA Handbook resulted from new EU requirements.

The Consumer Panel's EU strategy aims to influence the development of EU financial services policymaking for the benefit of consumers.

People should be able to buy financial services with full confidence about market supervision, enforcement, transparency, competition and redress whether buying a product in their home state or cross-border.

The Consumer Panel have agreed the following EU priorities:

1. Banking
   
   The Panel firmly believes in transparency of charging in relation to bank accounts and looks to the European Commission to provide firm proposals in this area, with a commitment to policing implementation.
   
   The Panel supports the right of consumers to have access to basic payment accounts and has expressed disappointment with the Commission's response to its consultation on the subject. It will be actively encouraging the Commission to replace its recommendation with firm legislation in future.
   
   Consumers also have a right to clear information about the levels of protection they can expect if their bank gets into difficulties. The Panel has long argued that it should be a requirement for all brands to be separately authorised, to make it easier for consumers to spread their savings between brands to reduce the risk of loss. The Panel has been pushing for the Deposit Guarantee Schemes Directive to include this provision.
   
   
   
2. Insurance Mediation Directive (IMD), Packaged Retail Investment Products (PRIPs), Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID)
   
   The Commission is responsible for monitoring the effective operation of the Single Market. It has been concerned for several years about the development of varying standards of consumer protection; in terms of education, sales processes and disclosure of information.
   
   The Panel has been working with other EU consumer representatives to ensure that practices which are detrimental to consumers are eradicated in a consistent way across the Union.
   
   
   
3. Promoting consumer views at EU level
   
   The Panel would like to see effective consumer representation enshrined at the heart of financial regulation across Europe. To this aim we have forged relationships with MEPs, Commission personnel and through our partnership with BEUC, the European consumer organisation.
   
   The Panel engages actively at EU level through its relationship with BEUC. It also benefits from the involvement of its Vice Chair, Kay Blair, who was appointed to EIOPA's Insurance and Reinsurance Stakeholder Group in 2011 and subsequently elected Vice Chair.
   
   
   
4. Mortgages
   
   One of the Panel's key priorities at UK level is the FSA's Mortgage Market Review (MMR) and it has published a six point plan for a sustainable and healthy mortgage market. The simultaneous work at EU level for the Credit Agreements Relating to Residential Property (CARRP) Directive is therefore of particular interest. The Panel is providing input to expert groups to ensure there is consistency across EU and UK regulations and that both are in the best interests of consumers.

 

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