Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-06-04-Speech-3-212"
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"en.20080604.24.3-212"2
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"Mr President, let me congratulate the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, and in particular Mr Karas and Mr Schmidt, for their excellent work in producing a thorough and consistent report.
I wholeheartedly welcome your broad support for our strategy on retail financial services, as well as the significant contribution you have made towards deliberations on a wide range of issues. It is not possible in the time allotted to provide our views on all of the issues covered in this extensive report. I would therefore like to focus on two issues of particular importance in the retail area, our consideration of the framework for retail investment products, and our work on bank account mobility.
Turning first to retail investment products. I am grateful for your support for our ongoing work to ensure that the regulatory framework for the sale of retail investment products delivers a consistently high level of investor protection. I am convinced that competition between retail investment products can deliver real benefits for consumers. However, we need to be confident that the sale of all investment products is accompanied by a high level of product disclosure and a point-of-sale discipline. Only this will ensure that consumers are treated fairly and can take decisions on an informed basis.
I welcome the clear position you have taken in your report on these issues. However, as you well know, I am not one to make decisions without first being fully convinced of the need for change. Harmonisation or streamlining of disclosure and distribution rules would be a costly and disruptive process. There may be objective reasons why some differentiation is needed between product types or distribution channels.
For these reasons, I believe it is far too early to conclude that there are deficiencies in existing investor protection regimes which call for new cross-cutting legislation. Later this year I will come forward with a communication consolidating the evidence gathered in our research. We will identify areas for further work, to examine, and address clearly, evidenced shortcomings in existing regulatory protections.
Turning now to bank account mobility. Creating a competitive and efficient market for bank accounts is a core element in our retail financial services strategy. Many consumers regularly face obstacles in trying to switch from one provider to another. This situation cannot be allowed to continue and we are therefore pleased to receive your support on this point.
I welcome your call for the financial services industry to work towards the aims of the Green Paper by self-regulation and thus reduce the need for binding legal acts. This reflects our commitment reiterated in the single market review to use, where appropriate or where they can deliver the desired outcome, self-regulatory measures rather than resort to legislation.
In this context, in November last year we invited the European banking industry to develop a European Code of Conduct by mid-2008. This code should contain a fully-fledged domestic switching service which should be made available to customers when they switch bank. The banking industry does not need to start from scratch. Rather, they should draw on existing best practices in some Member States.
Finally, delivery of a high quality code of conduct by the banking industry will be decisive in proving the merits of self-regulation. Let me be clear today. Should the code fail to meet the Commission’s expectations, alternatives, such as a legislative proposal, would have to be considered."@en1
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