“For the benefit of the consumer, all companies offering banking services must be subject to the same regulation and supervision as banks.” This was stated by our spokesperson, José Luis Martínez, at the meeting organized by Adicae on ‘Consumers and the Digital Revolution in Finance’.
Martínez emphasized that the objective of technological changes applied to financial products and services must always be to offer the best service to the customer, which requires adaptation to the new digital environment by companies operating in the market without being banks, as well as by supervisors and regulators.
In this regard, he argued that the rules must be the same for all those offering the same activity in the financial sector and therefore assuming the same risks, in order to guarantee adequate consumer protection and the necessary financial stability.
“Competition is always welcome, and digitalization and regulatory changes favor the entry of new companies in the provision of banking products and services,” said the AEB spokesperson, although he regretted that currently “there is no level playing field.”
Start-up companies have the advantage of not having to maintain a physical distribution network and operating under the strict regulation to which the banking sector is subject. Even so, banks compete well and remain preferred by customers, who trust their ability to guarantee the protection of their financial and personal data.
This is supported by various data: 94% of customers approve of their financial institution and 73% of Spaniards use banking applications. Martínez also emphasized that Spanish banks offer the most services in Europe, and that in Spain three out of four banking services are free, something that does not occur in the rest of the Old Continent.
