Breaking down barriers to basic payment accounts – A Finance Watch webinar

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To fully participate in society, citizens need to be able to access a bank account. We use such accounts to perform essential tasks, from receiving a salary or social benefit, to paying rent or taxes. Having a payment account is also a prerequisite for accessing other essential financial services, such as insurance or a pension product.

Today, the percentage of people without a payment account, however, remains high in some EU countries, meaning that many EU citizens are not sufficiently financially and socially included. Moreover, it’s the most vulnerable in our society that are hit hardest.

What should be done to fix this? When and how can the EU improve the current situation?

This lunchtime event is an opportunity to dive into this key topic further through the lens of Finance Watch’s latest report and to ask questions to the author and contributors. Those who register for this session will receive the report under embargo before the event.

The report itself contains mystery shopping data from three EU Member States – Germany, Spain and Romania – that highlight the current shortcomings of the EU’s Payment Accounts Directive (PAD). The report also includes recommendations to EU policymakers on how to improve access to basic payment accounts for vulnerable consumers across Europe.