ERFF kicked off the year with a 2-way dialogue with consumer representatives on issues in retail financial services across Europe on 30th January in Brussels. This informal, interactive session marked the start of a year when ERFF will be focusing on the ‘consumer journey’ in retail financial services across a lifetime from youth to retirement. Together with industry and consumer representatives, we aim to look at what’s working and what isn’t in terms of EU policy and legislation.

What came up in the discussion on 30th January? Concerns about how and what data is collected for consumer creditworthiness assessments featured prominently. Consumer organisations worry about privacy and risks such as exclusion or over-indebtedness. And they called out both service providers and national supervisors on uneven treatment of consumers between Member States, including inadequate enforcement and lack of redress in many countries. What many actors on all sides want is balanceconsumer protection that’s applied evenly across the EU and delivered via clear, easy-to-understand products without large quantities of paperwork.

ERFF will be continuing its ‘consumer journey’ with further events and dialogues throughout the year. Please contact us, if you’d like to be informed of future events / outcomes: info@erff.eu.