The European Commission confirmed, in an official press release, that it carried out inspections on 3 October.
The European Commission said in a press release that these associations “may have engaged in anti-competitive practices in breach of EU antitrust rules” with the purpose of “excluding non-bank owned providers of financial services by preventing them from gaining access to bank customers account data, despite the fact that the respective customers have given their consent to such access.”
The Financial Times reports that the raids were conducted in Poland and in the Netherlands.
The recent actions taken by the European Commissions are part of a wider EU plan to shake up the financial industry by forcing them to give third parties access to customer accounts, with the account holder’s exclusive consent.
This is the first raid carried out by the commission over antitrust concerns. PSD2 (Payments Service Directive 2) will become law in January 2018, but there are several issues and challenges to overcome before it can be applied. The Regulatory Technical Standards (STS) have yet to be approved and several organizations, including ecommerce associations have voiced concerns over the current RTS draft.
Fintech companies support open banking and the new PSD2 law, believing that it will lead to a more competitive financial segment in which customers could benefit from value-added financial services.
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