11 Amendments of Marco ZANNI related to 2016/2056(INI)
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. WelcomesNotes that the Commission Green Paper on retail financial services (defined as including insurance) and the vivid and productive debate that it has generated so far, loans, payments, current and savings accounts and any other retail investment product) and the vivid and productive debate that it has generated so far have focused on the obstacles to the expansion of cross-border activities rather than on the need to address the persistent deficiencies and weaknesses of the regulatory and supervisory framework for retail financial services, in order to increase protection for depositors, savers and small investors;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Finds the Green Paper initiative to be timely, particularly given the need to work proactively at all stages of the policymaking process in order to be able to track and steer developments in such an innovative and fast-changing marketinitiative to promote greater liberalisation of retail financial services set out in the Green Paper to be rather imprudent, particularly given the need to address appropriately the sources of instability, inefficiency and systemic risk that are still present in the European banking and financial sector; agrees, however, with the ambition to work proactively at all stages of the policymaking process in order to be able to track and steer developments in such an innovative and fast-changing market, but stresses the need to curb the potential negative effects of technological and financial innovation, by monitoring and combating effectively the risks relating to circumvention of the rules and of supervision, tax evasion, tax fraud and tax avoidance, and the laundering of the proceeds of illegal activities;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises, in particular because of low levels of consumer trust and satisfaction, that the Green Paper initiative can succeed only if it has a strong focus on creating an EU marketreforming the banking and financial sector, by building on the lessons learned from the crisis and combating the expansion of the shadow banking system and speculative, high-risk finance; calls for work to be done on specific proposals that seek to strengthen the commercial, sustainable bank model that focuses on the real economy, in addition to creating a financial market which is more transparent, efficient and reliable, in which savers and small investors can compete on a level playing-field with other market operators and in which well- protected consumers have access to transparent, straightforward and good- value-for-money products;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recalls that all initiatives based on the Green Paper should be compatible with stepping up the fight against tax avoidance, tax fraud and tax evasion, in addition to measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes with concern the increasing complexity and riskiness of retail financial products; insists on the need to develop initiatives and instruments that allow consumers to identify safe and simple products within the range of products available to them; supports initiatives such as the Key Investment Information Document for undertakings for collective investments in transferrable securities (UCITS) and the Key Information Document for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (PRIIPs); and to take mindful investment decisions based on comprehensible, accurate information concerning the risk/return profile, costs and charges, all risks associated with the investment, worst-case scenarios and potential losses, past performance and the investment policy; supports initiatives such as the Key Investment Information Document for undertakings for collective investments in transferrable securities (UCITS) and the Key Information Document for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (PRIIPs); considers, however, that in order to ensure appropriate protection of retail savers and investors, the current macro-prudential regulatory and supervisory framework needs to be reviewed and strengthened; calls for consideration of the possibility, in this regard, of introducing restrictions or bans on selling speculative derivatives, structured securitisations and high-risk subordinate bonds to retail clients, in addition to prohibiting pension funds, insurance companies and banks which manage deposits and savings from investing in these instruments;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Recallgrets the recent developments in the legislative framework for the banking sector, in particular the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive and the Deposit Guarantee Schemes Directive; insists on the need to inform consumers fully about the risks and the impact of the new rules; urges the Commission to consider the destabilising repercussions on financial stability and the economy caused by the implementation of the bail-in rules in the case of systemic failing banks; calls for the bail-in rules to be suspended in order to prevent losses caused by bad bank management or the shortcomings of regulation and supervision from being unfairly offloaded onto current-account holders, savers and investors; stresses, in this regard, the importance and urgency of carrying out an ambitious, structural bank reform based on a clear and effective separation between commercial banks and investment banks, in order to protect the deposits and savings of private individuals and to remove incentives for excessive risk-taking, thereby preventing the emergence of new financial crises, the burden of which has to be borne by taxpayers;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Stresses, not least given tha that the financial inclusion perspective should always be kept in mind, also against otherwise background of positive digitisation processes could trigger exclusionary tendencies, that the financial inclusion perspective should always be kept in mind, and that measures should be taken to ensure that all consumers have access to at least the most essential financial services, as an instrument with which to combat social and economic exclusion and growing poverty, and as a tool to support start-ups and micro, small and medium-sized companies; stresses also that specific measures should be taken to ensure that all consumers, including disadvantaged and non-bankable people, have access to essential financial services that are appropriate for their requirements, under beneficial terms, in particular by strengthening micro-credit and micro- finance instruments, local cooperative banks, peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding with a high social impact;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Notes that frontline employees at financial institutions have a crucial role to play in opening up retail services to all strands of society and to consumers all over Europe; points out that such employees should, in principle, be given the training and time necessary to be able to serveoffer their customers accurately, and should not be made subject to sales targets or inducements that could bias or distort their advicethe products that are the most suitable for their requirements and preferences, providing accurate and truthful information on the associated risks and costs, and should not be made subject to sales targets or inducements that could bias or distort their advice; stresses the need to strengthen effective protection procedures for whistleblowers, in order to encourage bank employees to report to the authorities responsible any kind of pressure to which they might have been subjected with the aim of increasing sales volumes to the detriment of their customers;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Points out that the main cause of the eurozone crisis and of the accumulation of excessive macro-economic and financial imbalances lies in the huge private capital flows, in particular mortgage credit and consumer credit, from the core countries towards the outlying countries, caused by the introduction of the single currency; calls, therefore, for appropriate consideration of the potentially destabilising and distorting effects that further liberalisation of retail financial services would have in a dysfunctional monetary union like that of the eurozone, fuelling excessive private foreign indebtedness in deficit countries in respect of surplus countries, thus amplifying the macroeconomic imbalances within the eurozone and promoting the further expansion of finance at the expense of the real economy;
Amendment 268 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Encourages the Commission, while ensuring financial stability, to move forward in creating a stronger single market for mortgages and consumer credit, but to do so carefully, balancing privacy and data protection concerns with improved cross-border access to better- coordinated constantly to monitor market developments as regards mortgages and consumer credit, in order to curb the risks for financial stability and the real economy; stresses the need to improve access to accurate cross-border credit databases and, making sure that credit-related incidents whereby consumers have been unreasonably exposed to currency exchange risksnew crises linked to excessive credit expansion, whereby consumers have been exposed to excessive foreign indebtedness, are not repeated;
Amendment 270 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Calls on the Commission to act with caution in encouraging competition and competitiveness in the European banking sector and to seek to strike the right balance between the need to offer consumers access to better products at lower cost and the need to protect the traditional, local bank model, which focuses on financing the real economy, from exposure to unfair competition from the major systemic investment banks, which have received large amounts of state aid and been subject to asymmetrical supervision which does not adequately assess the risks arising from derivative exposures and speculative activities;