Parliament votes to guarantee universal right to bank accounts in line with our demands

On December 12, 2013 the European Parliament voted in plenary the proposal for a directive on basic bank accounts. The text that was voted is not avaliable yet on the Parliament's web site. However, the vote of the Parliament goes in line with Social Platform's advocacy activities.

We advocated for extending the scope of the Commission's proposal to give the right to open a bank account not only to people who are legally resident in one country of the EU, but also to people residing in the EU who are financially excluded: for example to cover the situation of students from third countries, homeless people with a post address (e.g. of a shelter for homeless people), third country nationals that are studying in the host country or working and waiting for the renewal of their residence permit.

Sven Giegold MEP, shadow rapporteur from the Greens, said: "The EP has today voted to ensure a universal right to an affordable basic payment account for all European citizens. This is crucial to addressing the exclusion and social and economic disadvantages faced by those who currently are not able to have one for various reasons. Regardless of whether they have residence or are waiting for approval, anyone living in an EU member state would be able to open an account."

We also advocated for setting an obligation on all payment service providers to offer affordable or free basic accounts to citizens that do not have one (while the Commission's proposal stated that only one bank per member state should do this job). The Parliament's report stipulates this obligation for all payment service providers.

The rapporteur, MEP Klute, said: "The adoption of this report sends out a strong message that banking regulation can be used in such a way so as to help the most socially vulnerable citizens. The central element of my report is that access to payment accounts should be a legal requirement. The report also calls for greater banking transparency and more flexibility when it comes to switching banks. The Commission wanted to oblige banks to allow consumers to switch their account in 14 days, but this is not enough to empower consumers. The report includes calls for automated re-routing systems and account number portability."

We hope that member states will uphold the positive outcomes of the Parliament's vote.