15 Amendments of Othmar KARAS related to 2007/2201(INI)
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Regrets that the Commission inquiry does not take sufficient account of the specificities of the strictly regulated banking sector and the importance of culture, habits and languages in consumer choices for financial products; is furthermore concerned that the Commission's assessment of market integration builds on too few economic indicators and may consequently not duly reflect the characteristics of a dynamically developing and competitive retail banking sector;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Requests the Commission to work on facilitating customers' mobility where proved to be necessary in order for consumers to have the choice to change operator, thus reinforcing healthy competition between operators; wants to see continuity of service to be ensuprovided for the whole period during which switching services are offered even when closing a current account or changing providers and to avoid any duplication of services;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recommends low or non-existentonly justified closing costs in order to encourage mobility and competition; requests the Commission to define best practice on swift and efficient procedurcarry out an in-depth analysis including cost and benefits of existing national codes and practices befor account switching, taking into account both the duration of the procedure and the costs associated with ite defining best practice on swift and efficient procedures for account switching; is of the opinion that to switch current accounts should not cause any harm to customers; is against any unnecessary contractual links impeding customers' mobility;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Underlines that, as regards product- tying, a clear distinction must be made between product combination favourable to both customer and bank and common to all branches of the economy on the one hand side and practices resulting in unfair competition on the other;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Is of the opinion that information to consumers is essential but not, per se, sufficient to ensure competition between banks; requests information that is better quality and more readable; is of the opinion that for the time being, in some Member States it is difficult and costly for consumers to obtain information;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Recognises that there is a tension between preventing information overload and providing consumers with sufficient information; favours information quality over quantity; calls on the Commission, therefore, to invite consumer organisations to define which information they deem to be necessary to enable consumers to make appropriate choices;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Requests the Commission to work on enforcing obligations forencourage banks to provide consumers, before they open an account, with a single, clearly laid out document summarising details of all costs, including closing costs;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Recommends the creation of a voluntary single European prospectusstandard for providers to describeing information to the costumer by the supplier on their basic products, related costs and conditions in order to allow an easy and transparent comparison that tied products do not allow at the moment; recommends the setting up of an independent European controller to guarantee the quality of the information provided as well as a Europe-wide research engine to allow easy and free cross-border comparison;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Stresses the importance of reliable data for banks to grant credits, accessible on a fair and transparent basis; insists nevertheless on the necessity to protect consumers' personal data; requests the Commission to make proposals for the interoperability of data registers while respecting consumers' private lives and rights of access and rectification as well as their rights of access and rectification; welcomes the Commission's intention to establish an Expert Group on Credit Histories in order to assist the Commission in the preparation of adequate measures;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Welcomes the Commission's further examination of the cooperation between banks in order to assess where it could lead to a restriction of competition; underlines, however, that cooperation between banks can result in economic and consumer benefits and that, therefore, a careful analysis and an unbiased approach are necessary;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. In this context, is of the opinion that decentralised banking networks such as saving and cooperative banks guaranteemake a substantial contribution to the continuity of financial markets even in smaller and remote markets and to the development of the endogenous potential of the regions; stresses that pluralistic banking markets and diversity of providers enhance competition throughout the EU banking market while ensuring the financing of the local economy and facilitating access to financial services for all customers;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Notes that the Commission has repeatedly qualified specific multilateral interchange fees as anti-competitive and conseque; reminds the Commission of the importance of legal certaintly requested the industry to abolish themfor market participants to develop and innovate their services as well as for new market entrants; is of the opinion that the Commission should provide stakeholders with clear indications, and guidelines and transparency requirements that could enable the industry to ensure a fair and transparent calculation method,set up their system in a way that is compatible with EC competition law;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Believes in a strong need for better clarification concerning the methodology and rules for the management of multilaterally agreed interchangethe mechanism to calculate interbanking fees for ATMs and non-card payments; recalls that the SEPA direct debit scheme and the SEPA credit transfer scheme are two sided networks creating economic benefits thanks to network effects; asks the Commission to provide a balancing mechanism in order to distribute more evenly the costs and benefits of network membership; suggests to the Commission to define and communicate to all stakeholders the methodology to be used to calculate all multilaterally agreed interchange fees in order to ensure a real level playing field and the enforcement of allsuggests to the Commission to define and communicate to all stakeholders indications and guidelines that could enable the industry to set up their system in a way that is compatible with EC competition ruleslaw;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)