Interim Report Ii Current Accounts and Related Services
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EUROPEAN COMMISSION Competition DG Services Financial Services (Banking and Insurance) INTERIM REPORT II CURRENT ACCOUNTS AND RELATED SERVICES Sector Inquiry under Article 17 Regulation 1/2003 on retail banking 17 July 2006 Commission européenne, B-1049 Bruxelles / Europese Commissie, B-1049 Brussel - Belgium. Telephone: (32-2) 299 11 11. TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................................... 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................................................................................... 6 1. INTRODUCTION – PURPOSE, DEFINITIONS AND METHODOLOGY ................................. 12 1.1. Purpose and legal basis of the sector inquiry ................................................... 12 1.2. Why the Commission launched its sector inquiry into retail banking ............ 13 1.3. Defining retail banking activity............................................................................. 13 1.4. Retail banking products and services ................................................................ 14 1.5. Methodology of the sector inquiry....................................................................... 15 1.6. The structure of this report................................................................................... 18 2. MARKET FEATURES .............................................................................................. 19 2.1. General characteristics of retail banking markets ............................................ 19 2.1.1. Supply side ..................................................................................................... 19 2.1.2. Demand side .................................................................................................. 22 2.2. Fragmented retail banking markets within the EU ........................................... 22 2.3. Potential competition issues ................................................................................ 23 3. REGULATORY FRAMEWORK FOR RETAIL BANKING.................................................... 26 3.1. Competition policy framework for retail banking in the EU ............................. 26 3.1.1. The changing role of competition policy in retail banking ....................... 26 3.1.2. Competition policy in banking in the European Union............................. 27 3.1.3. Best practice in applying competition policy in retail banking ................ 28 3.2. The framework for banking supervision and competition issues ................... 29 3.2.1. Impact of new capital adequacy framework .............................................. 30 3.2.2. Relationship between competition and financial stability ........................ 31 3.2.3. Cross-border banking mergers.................................................................... 32 3.3. Non-supervisory aspects of retail banking regulation and competition ........ 35 3.3.1. Pricing regulation........................................................................................... 35 3.3.2. Licensing of cross-sectoral activities .......................................................... 36 3.3.3. Geographical restrictions.............................................................................. 37 3.3.4. Consumer protection rules and banking competition .............................. 37 3.4. Direct state intervention in the retail banking sector ........................................ 39 3.4.1. Abolition of unlimited state guarantees in favour of public banks.......... 39 3.4.2. Remuneration for capital injections into financial institutions ................. 39 3.4.3. Equal tax treatment ....................................................................................... 40 3.4.4. Compensation for providing services of general economic interest...... 41 3.4.5. Rescue and restructuring aid to financial institutions .............................. 41 4. MARKET STRUCTURES AND CONCENTRATION.......................................................... 43 4.1. Market definition..................................................................................................... 43 4.2. Scope of the analysis, data and limitations ....................................................... 44 2 4.3. Concentration at the national level ..................................................................... 47 4.4. Concentration at the regional level ..................................................................... 52 5. FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF RETAIL BANKS .......................................................... 58 5.1. Long-term trends in the profitability of the EU banking sector ....................... 58 5.1.1. Pre-tax profitability as a share of gross banking income ........................ 59 5.1.2. Profitability measured by the rate of return on assets ............................. 59 5.2. Market data on retail banks’ financial performance ......................................... 60 5.2.1. Caveats on the market data......................................................................... 61 5.3. Gross income from retail banking activity.......................................................... 61 5.3.1. Banks’ total income from retail banking activity........................................ 61 5.3.2. Banks’ retail income by product line........................................................... 63 5.4. Comparison of EU retail banks’ profitability and costs .................................... 72 5.4.1. Profitability of retail banks in the EU........................................................... 72 5.4.2. Cost bases of retail banks in the EU .......................................................... 74 5.4.3. The relationship between retail banking profitability and costs.............. 75 5.5. Relationship between market conditions and financial performance ............ 76 5.5.1. Bank size and profitability............................................................................. 77 5.5.2. Market share and profitability....................................................................... 77 5.5.3. Bank size and cost-income ratios ............................................................... 78 5.5.4. Market size and cost-income ratios ............................................................ 79 6. SELECTED COMPARISONS OF PRICES AND ACCOUNT USE ......................................... 82 6.1. Introduction............................................................................................................. 82 6.2. Interest rate dispersion in the euro area ............................................................ 82 6.2.1. Evolution of the euro area aggregates....................................................... 83 6.2.2. Differences among euro area Member States.......................................... 83 6.2.3. Dispersion within euro area Member States ............................................. 84 6.3. Selected comparisons of account use and charges for making payments.. 84 6.3.1. Data sources .................................................................................................. 85 6.3.2. The use of current accounts to make payments ...................................... 85 6.3.3. Banks’ income: account management fees and fees for selected payments transactions.................................................................................................. 88 7. CUSTOMER MOBILITY AND CHOICE ......................................................................... 91 7.1. Factors reducing customer mobility in retail banking....................................... 91 7.1.1. Administrative burden ................................................................................... 93 7.1.2. Information asymmetry and low price transparency ................................ 94 7.1.3. Cross-selling and bundling of banking products....................................... 95 7.1.4. Customer preferences and choice.............................................................. 96 7.1.5. Closing charges ............................................................................................. 97 7.2. Analysis of customer mobility in retail banking across the EU....................... 98 7.2.1. Customer mobility in the retail banking industry across the EU............. 98 7.2.2. Customer churn ............................................................................................. 99 7.2.3. Longevity of the banking relationship....................................................... 103 7.2.4. The extent of cross-selling in retail banking ............................................ 106 7.2.5. The extent of banks’ practice of tying products ...................................... 108 7.3. The relationship between customer mobility and market performance ...... 110 7.3.1. Customer mobility and retail banking profitability................................... 111 3 7.3.2. Customer mobility and banking market concentration........................... 112 7.3.3. Customer mobility and patterns of cross-selling..................................... 112 7.3.4. Analysis of customer mobility at bank level............................................. 113 7.3.5. Cross-selling and banking sector performance ...................................... 114 7.3.6. Conclusions of correlation analysis .......................................................... 115 7.4. Possible measures to reduce obstacles to customer mobility and strengthen competition ......................................................................................................................