In the course of its work, the European Commission gets feedback and listens to points of view from many different people, companies and organisations and uses the information it receives to feed into its policy-making. In financial services, industry is always willing and able to give feedback. But industry's position is only one side of the coin, and the Commission has made a number of efforts in the past few years to boost consumer involvement in financial services policy-making.

Balanced input to EU policy-making

Starting 1 May 2017, two non-profit organisations – Finance Watch and Better Finance – will benefit from EU funding for the period 2017-2020. The proposed funding, which will amount to an overall  maximum of €6 million over the four years, is part of the effort to strengthen consumer participation and get a more balanced input to EU policies.    

The decision to fund the two organisations follows a successful pilot project launched in 2011. The project was designed to support the development of a European centre of financial expertise that would stimulate the involvement of consumers and non-industry stakeholders in the area of EU financial services policy-making. Between 2012 and 2016, Finance Watch and Better Finance received grants that helped them build their expertise. The organisations provided EU policy-makers with views and feedback other than those from the financial industry on topics that have a direct impact on consumers (for example a directive giving the right to a basic bank account) but also on other policy initiatives (such as capital requirements for banks or the regulation of OTC derivatives). Both Finance Watch and Better Finance, by communicating their expertise through publications and responses to consultations, working on different policy areas and targeting different audiences, have been able to bring another voice to most of the EU financial political agenda since 2012.

Public consultations

Some of the input has come through responses to Commission consultations, which are an effective way of getting feedback on policies in the pipeline. Of the 16 consultations that the Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets has carried out since 2015, approximately 42% of the contributions came from non-industry sources.

Another way the Commission has tried in recent years to ensure the voice of consumers and retail investors is heard is through regular meetings with the Financial Services Users Group (FSUG), an advisory expert group set up by the Commission in 2010. The FSUG, made up of independent experts and individuals appointed to represent the interests of consumers, retail investors and micro-enterprises, was set up to provide advice to the Commission on policy areas such as retail banking, consumer and mortgage credit, private pensions and retail investment products. In 2015, the retail financial services and payments department of the Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union took part in 16 meetings with the FSUG and other interest groups representing users.

The Better Regulation website, which makes it possible for people to not only track legislative initiatives but to share their views on draft acts, is another source of broader feedback for the Commission. The portal has recently been opened up to a broader public, and not just stakeholders.