This month's view from Europe, courtesy of Edith Rigler :
New rules on payment services for the
benefit of consumers and retailers – European
Commission, 24 July 2013
The Commission
has adopted a package including a new payment Services Directive
("PSD2") as well as a proposal
for the regulation on interchange fees for card-based payment transactions. The
Regulation on interchange fees, combined with the revised PSD, will introduce
maximum levels of interchange fees for transactions based on consumer debit and
credit cards and ban surcharges on these types of cards.
The Commission
has also published a Q & A document.
The single market in financial services: “we
need the UK on board” – European Commission speech, 12
July 2013
In a recent
speech in London, Michel Barnier, European Commissioner for the Internal Market
and Services, argues that the UK has benefitted from EU membership and would
lose out on many of its own interests if it were to leave the EU.
Unemployment in the EU remains high – Eurostat, 31 July 2013
Unemployment
remained at 12.1 percent in the
17-nation euro zone, unchanged from May, according to Eurostat data. The crisis
has affected the 16-25 age segment worst of all, with jobless rates running at
catastrophic levels of 58.7 percent in Greece and 56.1 percent in Spain.
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...