MEPs approved a resolution which highlights that basic banking services should be a legal right for the 10% of EU citizens who currently do not have any, including homeless people, those on very low incomes, students, people with no credit record and expatriate workers. According to the text, the basic payment account must always be cheaper than any alternative offered by a given institution.

A resolution approved by the European Parliament in plenary session called on the Commission to table legislation by January 2013 to tackle the financial exclusion of the 10% of EU citizens who currently do not have any basic banking services. Nowadays, the people excluded could be homeless people, those on very low incomes, students, people with no credit record and expatriate workers. The European Commission launched a public consultation on bank accounts on March 2011.

Among other things, the approved text highlights that banks and other institutions offering payment accounts must not be able to refuse to grant such an account on grounds such as low income, type of employment, credit history, or level of indebtedness. Most importantly, they must not be allowed to make the basic account conditional on the purchase of other products or services, add MEPs.

On the other hand, MEPs stressed the need of new rules at EU level because simple Commission recommendations have yielded the desired results in only a few countries and banks have a natural tendency to target only commercially attractive clients.