Banks will be singled out by the European Commission next week as often having opaque fee structures and could face action to improve treatment of account holders, an official at the EU executive said on Thursday. A report to be presented by European Union Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kuneva on Tuesday will say many banks appear to be hiding charges with fee structures that a lot of customers find difficult to understand.
"The price structures of current accounts are often very opaque, making it almost impossible for consumers to know how much they are paying and to compare different offers," the Commission official, who asked not to be identified, quoted the report as saying.
The report was especially critical about banks in Austria, France, Italy and Spain, while those in the Netherlands scored the best. Commission spokeswoman Helen Kearns said the report suggested some banks failed to follow the 27-country EU's consumer protection laws, so the bloc's executive arm would ask national authorities to remedy the situation. The Commission might propose to tighten those laws but it was too early to say whether that would be needed, she added.
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