Volledig verslag van de vergaderingen

Maandag 21 november 2016 - Straatsburg

13. Groenboek over financiële diensten voor consumenten (debat)

  Presidente. – L'ordine del giorno reca la relazione di Olle Ludvigsson, a nome della commissione per i problemi economici e monetari, sul Libro verde sui servizi finanziari al dettaglio (2016/2056(INI)) (A8-0294/2016)

  Olle Ludvigsson, föredragande. – Herr talman! Jag vill börja med att rikta ett stort tack till partigrupperna, som har varit mycket samarbetsvilliga och möjliggjort för oss att uppnå en bred enighet inom ett område som kommer att bli viktigare med tiden, nämligen hur vi kan skapa förutsättningar för en inre marknad för finansiella tjänster för privatpersoner och mindre företag. Jag vill understryka att jag välkomnar kommissionens grönbok. Den har kommit helt i rätt tid.

På grund av betydande gränshinder är den gränsöverskridande handeln med finansiella tjänster fortfarande outvecklad. Det är dåligt för konsumenterna, hämmande för innovativa företag och stör den europeiska ekonomins funktionssätt. Därför behöver vi jobba för att frigöra den marknadens fulla potential och stödja innovativa lösningar som kan komma konsumenterna till del.

En stor del av de finansiella tjänsterna är idag knutna till 28 olika marknader som kännetecknas av låg konkurrens och brist på global konkurrenskraft. Om digitaliseringens kraft utnyttjas rätt kan ett europeiskt regelsystem stärka den enskilda konsumenten och bidra till en bättre finansiell produkt till lägre priser. Det är ett gyllene tillfälle som vi inte får missa.

En större del av betalningarna görs numera digitalt. Här behöver vi ett konkurrensneutralt regelverk som säkerställer att nya innovativa aktörer kan fortsätta bidra med tillväxt för fler jobb i Europa. Lagstiftningen behöver säkerställa att ökad konkurrens bidrar till ett rejält mervärde för konsumenterna. De mest grundläggande rättigheterna för medborgarna, till exempel rätten att öppna ett bankkonto, behöver stärkas. De finansiella tillsynsmyndigheterna behöver bättre följa upp hur banker och andra finansinstitut lever upp till antagna, implementerade rättsakter som PSD II, Mifid och direktivet mot penningtvätt.

Jag är övertygad om att EU i tider som dessa måste koncentrera sig på ett av sina kärnuppdrag. Vi måste riva fler barriärer så att den fria marknadens rörlighet kan främjas. Så snart det är möjligt behöver därför kommissionen presentera en rad lagstiftningsförslag som beaktar parlamentets synpunkter. En bred uppsättning av regelverk för finansiella tjänster inom unionen är sannolikt en viktig pusselbit för att uppnå bättre rörlighet bland EU:s medborgare.

Finansiella aktörer villkorar idag alltför ofta privatpersoners konsumtion av finansiella tjänster med kravet på permanent bosättning. Ett tydligt exempel är att kreditkort slutar fungera för vissa européer när de väljer att flytta till en annan medlemsstat. Kommissionen bör därför presentera förslag för att komma åt problemet med geoblockering som är specifikt kopplat till handel för finansiella tjänster.

En annan utmaning är att få identifieringen att fungera i praktiken. Idag finns det stora problem som kan kopplas till identifiering och digitala finansiella tjänster. Därför behöver teknologin för identifiering standardiseras. Tolkningen av penningtvättsdirektivet måste också finjusteras för att säkerställa effektiva identifieringsmöjligheter.

En övergripande utmaning är frågan om finansiell inkludering. Om du som medborgare inte får tillgång till de mest grundläggande finansiella tjänsterna blir livet väldigt svårt. Oavsett vilka åtgärder vi vidtar, måste frågan om finansiell inkludering alltid stå i centrum.

Det nya betalningsdirektivet kommer att ge varje medborgare rätt till ett grundläggande bankkonto. Även om steget är i rätt riktning så får vi inte nöja oss. Att bygga en välfungerade inre marknad för finansiella tjänster är ett omfattande projekt. Samtidigt är det mödan värt om det skapar ett verkligt mervärde för Europas medborgare.

  Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President of the Commission. – Mr President, first of all I would like to thank Mr Olle Ludvigsson for his excellent report on retail financial services.

Last year the Commission published its Green Paper on that subject. Its title was ‘Better products, more choice, and greater opportunities for consumers and businesses’. Those remain our objectives. We launched a consultation to ask consumers and businesses for their thoughts on how to achieve them. The responses are shaping our approach to deepening the single market for these services so as to enable consumers to make informed purchases that meet their needs wherever they might be in Europe and to allow financial firms to make the most of economies of scale, lower costs and improve service. We received more than 400 responses to our consultation. This underscores the need to tackle some of the barriers to cross-border retail financial services at European level. I am pleased to see that the conclusions of your report go in the same direction.

Consumers cannot understand why, in our single market, it is still so difficult to purchase financial products from another Member State, particularly as other services are more easily available. Financial firms can have their ambitions to sell into bigger markets frustrated by additional requirements in different European countries.

The Green Paper consultation has now closed. The Commission issued a feedback statement in July and we will follow up with an action plan on retail financial services next year. It will cover a number of areas touched upon in Mr Ludvigsson’s report. The action plan will tackle barriers that consumers face when they want to access financial products at a distance. We want to make it easier for consumers to be identified remotely without weakening important anti-money laundering requirements. We will look into reducing obstacles which financial firms can face when they want to expand into another European country without establishing a physical presence. And we want to give consumers the confidence that they need to purchase products across borders by giving them better access to reliable information and by making sure that they have a right to redress if things go wrong.

The work that we are taking forward with a Consumer Financial Services Green Paper is part of our broader push to build a single market for capital in Europe, a capital markets union. Working together we have a real opportunity to strengthen the single market around the principles of transparency, competition and choice, and we can make the daily lives of European consumers easier. This is an opportunity and, by working together, I hope we can take it.

  Sergio Gutiérrez Prieto, ponente de opinión de la Comisión de Mercado Interior y Protección del Consumidor. – Señor Presidente, señor Comisario, cuando analizamos el mercado de los servicios financieros al por menor, es decir, los productos donde los ciudadanos guardan sus ahorros, los seguros médicos, los planes de pensiones, los seguros de automóvil, incluso los mecanismos de financiación para empresas y familias, nos encontramos con mercados, en primer lugar fragmentados, que promueven también el aumento de costes porque evitan la competencia entre distintos operadores; encontramos mercados rígidos, que imposibilitan la portabilidad de unos productos de un Estado miembro a otro; y también nos encontramos con mercados opacos, que hacen que sea imposible comparar los mismos productos, productos semejantes, como digo, entre distintos operadores de distintos Estados miembros.

Y, por lo tanto, el Libro Verde que ustedes han presentado es una oportunidad para hacer tres cosas a la vez: una, para regular y acabar con la fragmentación que hoy domina en los mercados a escala europea; dos, para empoderar y proteger también a los consumidores; y tres, para aprovechar, en favor del crecimiento, las oportunidades de la digitalización.

Acabar con la fragmentación: pero ahí, señor Comisario, nosotros no creemos ni en las buenas prácticas ni en las buenas intenciones. Necesitamos regulación, que se cumpla la existente y que se cubran los huecos que ella misma ha dejado. No creemos, como digo, que no es necesario pasar del Libro Verde a acciones legislativas concretas que garanticen la igualdad de oportunidades y eviten también la fragmentación entre Estados miembros.

Empoderar a los consumidores, a través del aumento de la transparencia, aumentando la confianza de los mismos, la comparabilidad de productos, y, para eso, proponemos una herramienta que permita la comparabilidad entre los mismos productos de distintos Estados miembros, y, fundamental, mecanismos ágiles, rápidos, seguros para la resolución de conflictos entre distintos Estados miembros.

Y, tercero, todo ello se puede hacer impulsando, aprovechando, las oportunidades de la digitalización. Pero permítanme que me centre únicamente en una cuestión: las fintechs. Es también una nueva oportunidad para mejorar la financiación a escala europea, mucho más allá de la dependencia bancaria abusiva que tenemos en la zona comunitaria. Pero para ello también es necesario regular mejor cómo operan estas en los préstamos monetarios.

Tenemos que establecer las mismas reglas, las mismas protecciones y exigencias que tiene el sistema bancario tradicional para aquellos operadores nuevos que se aprovechan de las nuevas tecnologías de la digitalización para abrir nuevos campos de negocio. Nuevas reglas y redes, las mismas oportunidades, también con las mismas salvaguardas que las que ya conocemos en el mercado tradicional.

  Gunnar Hökmark, on behalf of the PPE Group. – Mr President, first of all I would like to thank Mr Ludvigsson for this report. It is a very important discussion and very important substance. I think we have every opportunity now to do what we can in order to achieve an efficient and liquid European financial market.

Digitalisation means that we will have all these opportunities. It will open things up for the fintech industry and a lot of new services, but it will also create better competition, better credit situations, and better credit opportunities. The challenge for us is to set all these things in the perspective of digitalisation, because while it makes most things possible, we can still see that legislation and regulations are hindrances. I think it is important to see what we can do in order to do what we must do.

First of all, we can create better credit situations all over Europe: liquid markets. Second, we can secure for consumers their being able to use a new range of services in other countries, but also being able to use services from other countries in their own country. You can move from country to country, having your pension with you, but also having the opportunity to pay your invoices which is, by the way, quite important. And you will be able to participate in all the new services, in parallel with banks, competing with banks, but also in innovating financial markets. It will create new jobs, but it will also give a more efficient European economy.

I think, in order to achieve this, that we need to secure an open mind for all the new competition that will arise. That has to do with how we deal with the Payment Service Directive. I think banks will still be as important as they are, but if we can open up new arenas and new opportunities for credit and for financing and new services, we must do that in order to help consumers. I think we need to implement a number of items of legislation that so far are not as implemented as they should be – the Mortgage Credit Directive, taking one example – but also set all the other legislation we have in place.

Digitalisation is not new. It has dominated the financial sector for quite a long time. But the thing that we need to do is to ensure that we facilitate all the opportunities that digitalisation can provide for European financial markets. That is why this discussion is very important. Once again, my congratulations to the rapporteur.

  Pervenche Berès, au nom du groupe S&D. – Monsieur le Président, Monsieur le Vice- président, merci de votre initiative avec ce Livre vert sur les services financiers. Je crois que le rapport de mon collègue Ludvigsson donne une bonne analyse de vos propositions. Au fond, la question centrale, maintenant, c'est de savoir comment mobiliser l'épargne des particuliers et la mettre au service d'une stratégie européenne qui est nécessairement une stratégie d'investissement de long terme. Pour cela, je crois que la proposition que nous faisons d'un produit d'épargne européen doit être examinée sérieusement par votre Commission. Je sais bien que les taux bas ne créent pas un environnement favorable à une telle proposition, mais vous répondriez ainsi, selon moi, à une aspiration de nos concitoyens et offririez un moyen de trouver des financements pour un investissement en faveur de la transition écologique.

De telles avancées doivent aussi passer par la question de la protection des consommateurs, qui ne peut jamais être laissée de côté. De ce point de vue, j'espère que nous arriverons à déboucher rapidement sur cette fameuse législation PRIIPs sur laquelle nous essayons de déboucher. Cependant, on le voit bien, et c'est très significatif, les opérateurs de secteurs différents veulent pouvoir se faire concurrence pour collecter l'épargne, mais ils ne veulent pas ensuite qu'on puisse comparer leurs produits de manière ouverte et transparente. Il faut que le législateur et la Commission soient très fermes dans ce domaine.

Mon collègue a beaucoup évoqué les FinTech. Je suis aussi favorable aux FinTech mais je pense que, dans ce domaine, il faut que les superviseurs et la Commission européenne soient très vigilants, car j'observe ici ou là le développement de plateformes de négociation qui sont parfois de pures escroqueries contre lesquelles l'Europe doit agir en mobilisant plus fortement l'ESMA et les autorités nationales compétentes.

Enfin, nous attendons de votre part, lorsque vous examinerez les prochaines propositions en matière d'union des marchés des capitaux, que vous n'oubliiez pas les engagements auxquels vous nous invitez à travers ce Livre vert. À ce moment-là, nous serons à vos côtés pour progresser.

  Stanisław Ożóg, w imieniu grupy ECR. – Panie Przewodniczący! Detaliczne usługi finansowe są ważnym elementem codziennego życia obywateli. Dyskutujemy tutaj nad dobrym sprawozdaniem, które szeroko prezentuje rozwiązania związane z usługami finansowymi, wskazując jednocześnie możliwość rozwoju tego sektora i kładąc nacisk na stworzenie bardziej otwartego, niedyskryminującego i konkurencyjnego rynku. Z tego typu usprawnień niewątpliwie skorzystają konsumenci oraz małe i średnie przedsiębiorstwa.

Osobiście nie zgadzam się tylko z ustępem 29, nawiązującym do przyjęcia wspólnej waluty przez wszystkie bez wyjątku państwa członkowskie. Szanowni Państwo! Doskonale wiemy, że żadne regulacje nie są obojętne dla wszystkich stron, których one dotyczą. Apeluję więc do Komisji Europejskiej, aby zanim zaproponuje kolejne regulacje w tym obszarze oraz innych, przeprowadziła odpowiednią ocenę skutków na środowisko biznesu, tak aby nie były one obciążeniem dla podmiotów świadczących usługi finansowe, jak i podmiotów z nich korzystających.

  Sophia in 't Veld, on behalf of the ALDE Group. – Mr President, first of all I would like to thank and congratulate the rapporteur for doing a very good job and ensuring a compromise that will indeed be supported by my Group. As the previous speaker said, this is a very important topic for citizens. This is about everyday products that they use. Everybody has insurances, loans, mortgages, pension savings, investment accounts, etc., but we see that only three percent of the market – three percent of the potential – is being used and that is worrying. But I have to say that what worries me even more is the lack of ambition and the lack of urgency – just look around the room – because, even if the report is very good, we shy away from the taboos.

I also note that the Commission had initially planned to come forward with an action plan in September and now the talk is about next year. I understand that some people are afraid of rapid developments – fintech was mentioned – but this is reality. This is what is happening and, as long as we sit on our hands, we will be overtaken by other parts of the world. If I look at the level of investment by the United States and China, this overtakes the European Union by far. The European Union is fragmented into 28 national markets. We are weak and not attractive for investors.

I get very worried when I read in the newspaper that a major European bank is actually investing EUR 20 million euros in fintech in China. It should be the other way around. We should be attractive enough for Chinese investors to come here and develop our own services. Europe has the potential to become the hub for retail financial services but, if we do not act more speedily, with more urgency and with more ambition, then we are going to lose the race because, colleagues – or those of you who are still around – this is not necessary for multinationals; they will find their way anyway. This is, however, urgently needed for consumers and SMEs, because they do need the European Union in order to eliminate the barriers. ALDE and the Green Group have tabled amendments and I very much hope for the support of the EPP Group and the S&D Group, because we do not think it is enough to make noble statements here about the objective of eliminating barriers, maybe sometime next century. We need concrete deadlines and we need concrete objectives. That is why we hope that these amendments mentioning the deadlines will be adopted.

Finally, it is a pity that, as usual, the Council is absent – the Council representing the Member States – because we all know that the biggest obstacle of all is national governments protecting their national champions. So where are they? Even the biggest Eurosceptics are always saying how important the internal market is. The government leaders are always saying how important the internal market is but, when it really comes down to it, they are actually blocking the opening—up of the internal market, doing a big disservice to their own citizens. So I hope that the Commission will come up with a really ambitious action plan as soon as possible.

  Paloma López Bermejo, en nombre del Grupo GUE/NGL. – Señor Presidente, creo que la Comisión se equivocaría si no refuerza enormemente la protección financiera. Servicios fundamentales, como tener una cuenta bancaria o acceder a efectivo, no pueden estar sometidos a enormes comisiones. Productos tan sencillos como los depósitos o las hipotecas no deben estar abiertos a prácticas fraudulentas tan graves como las de las preferentes o la del índice de referencia de préstamos hipotecarios.

Hay que simplificar la oferta de productos financieros existentes y ofrecer como derecho los servicios bancarios fundamentales —por ejemplo, a través de una banca pública—.

Y, en este sentido, ligar la reforma de los servicios financieros a la unión bancaria y de capitales, es decir, a la liberalización, privatización y concentración del sector financiero, es un grave error.

No debemos olvidar tampoco a los trabajadores del sector: desarrollos como la digitalización, además de abrir una brecha con muchos consumidores, son hasta el momento sinónimo de precarización laboral, lo que exige también nueva regulación a nivel europeo.

  Patrick O’Flynn, on behalf of the EFDD Group. – Mr President, enhanced international competition in consumer markets certainly has the potential to give customers a better deal for insurance, banking, savings, investments and much else besides. In some product markets, benefits from competition are fairly straightforward to attain, but in retail financial services there are clearly complexities to be overcome in order to boost international competition.

Many products rely on putative income streams or pay—outs far into the future, while charging regimes can be opaque, and let us not forget we are dealing with high value items designed to make a big difference to a person’s standard of life. This is not a pair of socks or a new pencil sharpener. The potential complexity of pursuing cross—border redress is one factor that has led thus far to pragmatic consumers tending to stick with suppliers from their own country of origin or residence. But, given the potentially large gains to consumers of being able to access the best advice and widest choice of products from across the world, Europe’s countries would do well to keep working at bringing down barriers in this field.

As a world leader in retail financial services, the United Kingdom has much to offer the savers, investors and future pensioners of Europe. Any bid by the EU to use Brexit as a pretext for closing down consumer choice would leave Europe’s citizens facing a less prosperous and less secure future. Governments would be failing in their duty were they to allow this to happen.

  Róża Gräfin von Thun und Hohenstein (PPE). – Mr President, firstly congratulations to Mr Ludvigsson and all the shadows for the work on this own-initiative report. I agree fully with those of you who spoke about the 28 different legal regimes on our single market that fragment this market and do not allow it to use the whole potential that lies there. My committee, the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), also contributed to this work; we provided an opinion. We all see that the retail financial market is, despite the number of legislative measures at the EU level, still not used. We will continue our work on it.

Also in the report on the regulation on geoblocking, which you mentioned already, consumers encounter numerous barriers. Having a bank account or a credit card is a prerequisite to almost every economic activity. But if consumers have problems with those services, they cannot as a result access any other services or goods normally accessible on this market, not to mention consumers’ problems and consequent frustration with other services such as loans, mortgages, investment products, insurance, etc. According to the most recent Consumer Markets Scoreboard, those markets are quite poorly rated by consumers domestically, and the cross-border perspective is even worse by a long way.

The single market and the digital single market cannot work effectively without cross-border retail financial services. This is one of the most important issues. Therefore, I would like to repeat the conclusions from our committee and ask the Commission to undertake a detailed examination analysis of both national and cross-border obstacles, remaining barriers to cross-border operations and to the completion of the single market financial sector. The European Commission needs to identify the reasons behind the existing market segmentation and price discrimination and the European Commission should recommend measures to encourage financial institutions to compete beyond national borders.

  Anneliese Dodds (S&D). – Mr President, the ability for everyone to access high-quality, safe and affordable financial services has become increasingly important. Olle Ludvigsson’s report offers many suggestions on how we can encourage new growth areas, including cross-border services. But, of course, we also need to consider how we can better protect consumers.

People can be financially excluded in many different ways; they may lack safe ways to borrow, encouraging them to turn to payday lenders or loan sharks, or they may be unable to access funds and services across countries – with one of my constituents finding it next to impossible to access funds stolen from her family by the National Socialists mainly because of administrative impediments.

So I am really pleased the rapporteur has taken on board many of my concerns, from calling for a simple, safe and portable financial products framework to acknowledging issues arising from the digital divide, to making sure incentive structures for staff in financial services do not promote mis-selling or inappropriate cross-selling, to advocating rigorous and consistent enforcement of consumer protection across states.

British consumers have been subject to many of the same sharp practices and scandals as other Europeans. So I hope the UK Government will follow and emulate developments at EU level to improve retail financial services, rather than trail behind them.

  Cora van Nieuwenhuizen (ALDE). – We leven niet meer in een tijdperk van verandering, we leven in een verandering van tijdperk. Dat geldt in het bijzonder als je kijkt naar de financiële sector, want alle nieuwe technologieën, van de analyse van big data tot robo advice, tot blockchain, noem maar op: alles wat er tegenwoordig aan nieuwe dingen tegelijk samenkomt, verandert het landschap ontzettend. Daardoor wordt het mogelijk dat heel veel producten goedkoper worden, beter worden, sneller worden en, zeg ik tegen collega Anneliese, ook meer toegankelijk voor heel veel mensen. Er liggen dus ontzettend veel kansen, want het belangrijkste doel dat we hier immers met z'n allen hebben gesteld, is het creëren van banen en economische groei. Om dat te kunnen bewerkstelligen, moeten we internationaal de concurrentie aankunnen. Daar hebben we in ieder geval ook een geavanceerde financiële infrastructuur voor nodig.

Daartoe kan dit verslag, en daar feliciteer ik de heer Ludvigsson ook mee, een belangrijke aanzet geven om ervoor te zorgen dat we innovatievriendelijk zijn en tegelijkertijd zorgen voor consumentenbescherming en natuurlijk ook oog hebben voor de systeemrisico's die er in ons hele financiële systeem zitten. Die balans moeten we met elkaar zien te vinden, want zoals mijn collega in 't Veld net al zei, wordt hierin ontzettend veel geïnvesteerd in de hele wereld. Als wij niet uitkijken, dan lopen we achter op dit gebied. Daar benadelen wij onze economie maar vooral ook onze burgers mee, want die willen heel graag op wereldniveau kunnen meedraaien. Daar heb je die vernieuwingen gewoon keihard voor nodig.

  João Pimenta Lopes (GUE/NGL). – Senhor Presidente, estamos perante mais um aprofundamento do mercado único, estendendo-o aos serviços financeiros de retalho. Tal como outras iniciativas, apresenta-se sustentado em conceitos que, estando aparentemente direcionados à melhoria das condições dos utilizadores, representam, na prática, mais um elemento de harmonização, de aprofundamento federalista, que servirá aos grandes interesses financeiros, facilitando a concentração da riqueza e a centralização do poder económico.

Alguns dos aspetos mais perversos desta iniciativa: liquidação de empresas de menor dimensão e promoção de oligopólio bancário pan-europeu; aumento dos lucros dos grandes bancos, nomeadamente pela redução de custos operacionais, onde se incluem o despedimento de trabalhadores, processos facilitados pela vertente digital e a redução da implantação física das empresas; degradação das condições de atendimento direto ao público e precarização laboral; desregulamentação da economia e intensificação da livre circulação de capitais; ainda maior supressão da autonomia e soberania dos Estados—Membros; e facilitação da fuga de capitais, dificultando o combate ao branqueamento de capitais.

São objetivos e consequências que merecem o nosso total repúdio e condenação.

  Sergio Gaetano Cofferati (S&D). – Signor Presidente, signor Commissario, onorevoli colleghi, come ha notato, l'ottima relazione del collega Ludvigsson chiede sostanzialmente due cose alla Commissione. La prima è di dare attuazione alla legislazione già adottata, perché nell'applicare i patti sottoscritti c'è un senso di credibilità delle istituzioni che a noi pare importante. E poi chiede alla Commissione ulteriori iniziative, compresa quella della proposta di conto di risparmio nell'Unione europea e di incoraggiamento agli investimenti sostenibili e, in particolare, a quelli verdi. Perché queste due richieste vanno in parallelo? Perché c'è bisogno di creare consapevolezza e forza nel mercato interno presso gli utenti, i consumatori, che sono il soggetto principale al quale destinare le azioni che vi chiediamo.

Vorrei tornare rapidamente su due degli aspetti relativi ai consumatori che Lei stesso ha citato. Il primo riguarda l'informazione: una corretta informazione dà consapevolezza a chi deve utilizzare un servizio. Può scegliere così che cosa fare e con chi fare le azioni che gli servono per l'investimento e per la valorizzazione dei suoi risparmi. Il secondo tema è quello dei ricorsi: la possibilità di fare ricorso dà sicurezza a chi investe. Noi oggi purtroppo soffriamo di mancanza di consapevolezza e anche di uno stato elevatissimo di insicurezza.

Se voi farete queste scelte aiuterete il rafforzamento del mercato interno e, soprattutto, dei soggetti che dentro vi operano, che sono i consumatori.

  Nils Torvalds (ALDE). – Herr talman! Jag vill naturligtvis inleda med att tacka Olle Ludvigsson för hans arbete. Det utgör en ganska god bas för fortsatta studier på området.

De flesta av oss är säkert överens om att bankerna utför ett viktigt och mångsidigt arbete som betjänar oss alla som privatpersoner, som småföretagare, eventuellt också dem som är storföretagare.

Det väcker dock några tankar när man tittar på de uppgifter vi ser om bankernas avkastningskrav. En bank som har ett avkastningskrav på sitt kapital på 15 procent överträder eventuellt de regler som vi i vår stora klokskap håller på att skriva här. Det ställer oss en allvarlig fråga om på vilket sätt vi kan slå vakt om att reglerna faktiskt skapar en spelplan som är någorlunda jämn och som gör det möjligt för små banker i mindre länder att överleva i en hård konkurrens.

Vi behöver alltså ett rättvist system. Vi behöver en jämn spelplan. Jag hoppas att kommissionen i sitt framtida arbete klarar av att beakta detta och se till att också de perifera bankerna och det perifera banksystemet klarar sig i ett spel som ibland är hårt och som inte alltid är särskilt rent.

  Ashley Fox (ECR). – Mr President, my Group supports Parliament’s response to the Commission Green Paper on retail financial services. The report rightly points out that a single approach to retail services across the EU would be counter-productive at the moment, given the diversity of actors and the different products on the market, which are often tailored to local markets.

However, there are definitely improvements that can be made to the status quo, which the report highlights. For example, I am pleased that our amendments calling for the sector to work better for consumers, start—ups, investors and SMEs through delivering a healthy and competitive environment were adopted. I also support the emphasis placed on the simplification of legislation, the opportunities for digitalisation and fintech, the benefits of switching, and the financial education of consumers.

We do, though, have concerns. For example, the creation of a common tax identification number is not something I support, as it goes beyond the competences of the EU. For this reason my Group will vote against this provision. I am also baffled as to why there are calls in this report for more Member States to adopt the euro. That has nothing to do with this report. I will also not be supporting amendments from colleagues calling on the European supervisory authorities to increase their activities on consumers’ and retail investors’ issues. We need to be careful about duplication of existing structures in Member States and ensure that taxpayers’ money is well spent.

The call to intensify work against geoblocking in the financial sector should not be legislative at this stage. My Group agrees with the Commission approach of a financial services carve-out, due to its complexity. On the whole, this is a good report with some positive recommendations for the retail financial services sector and we thank Mr Ludvigsson for his good work.

Procedura catch-the-eye

  Νότης Μαριάς ( ECR). – Κύριε Πρόεδρε, σύμφωνα με την Πράσινη Βίβλο της Επιτροπής για τις λιανικές χρηματοπιστωτικές υπηρεσίες, όλοι οι καταναλωτές θα πρέπει να έχουν πρόσβαση σε διαφανή και έντιμα προϊόντα, ενώ παράλληλα κύριος στόχος θα πρέπει να είναι και η πάταξη της φοροδιαφυγής. Με την Πράσινη Βίβλο προωθείται η μείωση του κατακερματισμού της αγοράς, η ψηφιοποίηση και η ενίσχυση της θέσης των καταναλωτών, προκειμένου να βελτιωθεί η λειτουργία της ενιαίας αγοράς.

Βέβαια η εμπιστοσύνη των καταναλωτών στις χρηματοπιστωτικές υπηρεσίες είναι αρκετά χαμηλή, κυρίως, λόγω της έλλειψης χρηματοοικονομικών γνώσεων εκ μέρους των ίδιων των καταναλωτών. Επίσης πολλές φορές η άνοδος του αριθμού των διασυνοριακών συναλλαγών δημιουργεί προβλήματα, καθώς προϋποθέτει πληροφορίες σχετικά με τα προσωπικά δεδομένα. Για τον λόγο αυτό, είναι αναγκαίο να υπάρχει άντληση προσωπικών δεδομένων και αυτή να γίνεται πάντα με βάση τους κανόνες της προστασίας των δεδομένων, ενώ οι καταναλωτές θα πρέπει να έχουν την κατάλληλη ενημέρωση σχετικά με τις χρηματοοικονομικές υπηρεσίες .

  Nicola Caputo (S&D). – Signor Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, anche in precedenti interventi ho ribadito la necessità di implementare nei mercati finanziari la trasparenza delle operazioni, nell'ottica di instaurare maggiore fiducia nei consumatori. Se i servizi finanziari al dettaglio sono solo embrionali, dipende dalla mancanza di trasparenza, coerenza e tutela del risparmio a livello macroeconomico e, innanzitutto, dallo scarso rispetto dei principi di cooperazione e scambio di informazioni.

Un driver fondamentale è il coordinamento con il mercato unico digitale ma grande è la responsabilità sotto il profilo della privacy, se solo si considera il fenomeno che muove velocemente i primi passi della "robo-advisory", che rappresenta l'avamposto più moderno della fintech. Ma mi chiedo: come possiamo permettere ad un operatore elettronico e non più umano di consigliarci l'acquisto di prodotti finanziari se non abbiamo ancora risolto le sfide cruciali di sicurezza, protezione dei dati, tutela dei consumatori, concorrenza leale e stabilità finanziaria a livello di Stati membri e di banche centrali?

  Stanislav Polčák (PPE). – Já chci rovněž souhlasit se svými předřečníky, že právě roztříštěnost právního rámce 28 členských států opravdu odrazuje lidi od využívání těchto služeb. Vzhledem k jejich obecné složitosti lidé potřebují skutečně více informací k tomu, aby měli důvěru ve využívání maloobchodních finančních služeb. Na úrovni evropských institucí by měla být posílena právě ta informační složka sledování světového vývoje a řešení některých palčivých otázek, které spočívají např. v určení příslušnosti soudu, který má rozhodovat případné spory vyplývající z těchto právních vztahů.

Je zde řada otevřených momentů. Já chci podpořit Komisi v tom přístupu, který předložila. Připadá mi rozumný. Měli bychom nyní sledovat světový vývoj a navrhnout tomu odpovídající právní rámec pro využívání těchto služeb.

  Ruža Tomašić (ECR). – Gospodine predsjedavajući, izvjestitelj je postavio točnu dijagnozu koja se može primijeniti i na ostala područja, ne samo na maloprodajne financijske usluge. Neophodno je iskoristiti puni potencijal dostupnih informacijskih tehnologija, ali moramo biti svjesni toga da one same mogu ukloniti tek administrativne barijere. Ostale barijere, poput onih pravne i porezne prirode, može smanjiti samo snažna politička volja, koje prečesto manjka.

Iako su propisi u ovom području mnogobrojni, od Direktive o uslugama platnog prometa do one o sprječavanju pranja novca, put do istinski jedinstvenog tržišta neće biti ni brz ni lagan. Izvjestitelj dobro prepoznaje da je ključno podići razinu povjerenja i zadovoljstva potrošača. Oni su još uvijek suočeni s relativno visokim naknadama u prekograničnim tokovima novca koje ne odgovaraju realnim troškovima pružatelja usluga i to je nepravda koju moramo ispraviti.

(Fine della procedura catch-the-eye)

  Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President of the Commission. – Mr President, I would like to thank the European Parliament for this engaging and interesting debate on the report.

The Commission will take account of the issues which were raised today, and those outlined in the report, when preparing the retail financial services action plan. I believe our positions are similar in many ways. The Commission is focused on practical solutions. To keep the momentum, we will commit to actions which can be implemented quickly and which will bring tangible benefits to the everyday lives of consumers. So I agree that we need to be ambitious in this area.

In preparing our action plan, we will, of course, remain open to ideas and cooperation with stakeholders across the board, very much including the European Parliament. So I am looking forward to working closely and constructively with all of you to push this agenda forward.

  Olle Ludvigsson, föredragande. – Herr talman! Jag får tacka så mycket för de olika åsikterna och de synpunkter som har kommit på detta med “retail financial services”, vilket jag är väldigt tacksam för. Jag har själv försökt att som föredragande skapa en så stor enighet som möjligt i parlamentet, eftersom jag tror att det är viktigt.

Den fråga som vi har framför oss om finansiella tjänster är självklart viktig. Den måste koncentreras på konsumenterna, medborgarna, så att de ska kunna ha säkra och trygga system att fungera i. Jag tror också att vi självklart ska försöka gå fram så fort det överhuvudtaget är möjligt. Vi kan konstatera att det rör sig om en komplicerad del som kommer att ta en viss tid, men vi måste starta på ett vettigt och rimligt sätt.

Det vi gjorde i vårt betänkande var att dela upp det på kort och på lång sikt, vilket jag tror är väldigt, väldigt viktigt att göra. Vi måste lyfta blicken också och titta på den yngre generationen. Det är de i den yngre generationen som ska leva med detta. Vi måste skapa förutsättningar så att dessa produkter blir billigare, bättre, effektivare och säkrare. Det är det absolut viktigaste. Dessutom måste vi självklart försöka snabba på om det är möjligt.

Ett stort tack ännu en gång till alla skuggföredragandena, ett stort tack till alla parlamentariker som nu har deltagit i diskussionen. Jag känner väl ändå att det finns en ganska stor samstämmighet i vart vi vill gå hän och vad vi vill göra, och jag hoppas på ett fortsatt bra samarbete i denna fråga. Jag tackar även kommissionen för det förslag som man har lagt fram.

  Presidente. – La discussione è chiusa.

La votazione si svolgerà domani.