France Mulls Measures For Fair Bank Charges

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

15 July 2010

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has unveiled details of proposals contained in a report designed to make bank charges in France both fairer and more balanced.

Commissioned on March 17, the report proposes implementation of the following measures:

Transparent banking fees

Determined to make banking fees more transparent, Lagarde has proposed that banks clearly display prices of the ten services most used by customers in a box at the top of their tariff posters. Lagarde has also emphasized the need for consumer associations to be completely involved in the choice of these ten services.

In a bid to enable customers to easily compare banking fees, the report recommends that summaries of pricing conditions are the same for all banks and that the wording used in the pricing conditions is drawn from a glossary common to all banks.

Lagarde has confirmed her intention to task the country’s financial sector advisory committee (le Comité consultatif du secteur financier) with the role of monitoring the development of banking charges in France.

Controlling banking costs

Lagarde has proposed that banks include a security pack (pack sécurité) as part of their offer, containing a payment card specifically designed to prevent customers from overspending (une carte de paiement anti-dépassement). Lagarde has also advocated that a cap is introduced to limit both the cost and number of intervention measures used by banks in payment incidents. The report suggests that banks develop alert systems, using either text messaging or email, to enable customers to react and to avoid any such incidents.

Banking packages tailored to individual needs

The report recommends that banks develop their commercial offer to allow individuals to choose the particular services included in their package.

Facilitation of daily credit transfers

Lagarde has proposed that banks establish a new service to facilitate credit transfers (virement de proximité), enabling transfers to be made to either relatives or service providers on a daily basis.

Lagarde is due to meet with the financial sector advisory committee in September to discuss the issue and to decide on the best course of action for implementing the proposals.

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