In its newly launched report, the regulator revealed that payment fraud, indebtedness, and unwarranted de-risking are the critical issues impacting EU consumers. The EBA included information offered by the national authorities of the 27 EU member states, selected national and EU consumer associations, EU industry associations, national ombudsmen, and quantitative data from various sources.
Consumer Trends Report for 2024/25
The EBA’s report underlines that payment fraud represents the most pressing issue for EU consumers, reflecting the appearance of new types of fraud, such as social engineering techniques. The second most relevant problem for the EU is indebtedness, with the region facing a substantial increase in BNPL credit and other types of small, fast, accessible, and short-term credit. The drivers for indebtedness are improper creditworthiness assessment procedures implemented by lenders, as well as poor disclosure of pre-contractual information.
Furthermore, the regulator found unwarranted de-risking to be the third most significant issue, as consumers face scaled challenges in opening and retaining payment accounts, which is a requirement for EU residents to be able to participate actively in the economy. This problem can be seen in the form of declined onboarding of new and the offboarding of existing consumers, with the issue mostly affecting specific categories of vulnerable individuals, including migrants, refugees, the homeless, cross-border workers, and people with minimal or inadequate financial histories.
How will the EBA act on these findings?
Following the identification of these issues and the release of the Consumer Trends Report for 2024/25, the EBA intends to consider which actions it should take in 2025 and 2026 to address them. The regulator plans to focus on further optimising consumer protection across the EU while also promoting transparency and fairness in the market for financial products or services.
