Die EU-Kommission hat sich dem ECRC Thema "Verantwortliche Kreditvergabe" zugewandt. Bis Ende August sind öffentliche Stellungnahmen eingefordert. Der Fragenkatalog, so zeigt bereits der erste Blick, ist schon die wichtigste Antwort, weil er das Problem letztlich auf das Thema "Verantwortliche Kreditaufnahme" verkürzt. Kreditunwürdige Verbraucher, ungebildete Verbraucher stehen im Mittelpunkt.
Da waren selbst die Grundsätze von Cetelem in Frankreich erheblich weiter gefasst. BEUC und vzbv werden sich mit Stellungnahmen beteiligen. Ebenso die Gruppe um das RFA in Belgien, die für die Kommission die Überschudungsstudie gemacht hat und in ihrem Rundschreiben bereits andeutet, dass sie an der Sichtweise festhält, dass die aktuelle Kreditkrise in Amerika dort durch Verbraucher ausgelöst wurde, die aus Gründen des individuellen Konsums mehr Kredit aufnahmen, als sie sich leisten konnten. ECRC und NCRC in den USA haben dies bereits mehrfach als empirisch falsch zurückgewiesen.
Die Fragen sind in einer Hinsicht aber doch eine Erweiterung. Zwar wird das Bankverhalten nicht thematisiert, dafür aber das Verhalten von Kreditvermittlern, die ja nach Auffassung deutscher Gerichte nur der verlängerte Arm von Banken im Kredit sind. Hier überschneiden sich also die Grundsätze für verantwortungsvolle Kreditvergabe des ECRC mit den Aspekten der Kommission.
Wir fordern alle in der Koalition auf, ebenfalls ihre Meinung zu sagen. Sind es nur einzelne Punkte so könnte ECRC leicht daraus eine Gesamtstellungnahme, die sich aus vielen einzelnen Stellungnahmen zusammensetzt, machen. (mehr auf unserer englischen Seite)
Die Fragen lauten:
PRACTICES PRIOR TO THE LENDING TRANSACTION
Question 1: Do you have evidence of misleading or unfair advertising or marketing practices with regard to mortgage and consumer credit?
Question 2: What are your views on the development of risk guidelines?
BUSINESS PRACTICES IN THE CONTEXT OF LENDING TRANSACTIONS
Suitability and Creditworthiness
Question 3: In your view, are there certain (categories of) credit products that are inherently unsuitable for sale to retail borrowers? Would you welcome a set of standardised or certified credit products to be offered to consumers?
Question 4: Do you consider that mortgage lenders and credit intermediaries should always perform creditworthiness and/or suitability assessments before granting consumer and mortgage loans? For mortgage credit, what are your views on the criteria to be used in assessing suitability such as loan-to-income ratios or loan-to-value ratios?
Question 5: How should the lender or credit intermediary demonstrate or document the adequacy of the creditworthiness and suitability assessment?
Advice standards
Question 6: Do you think that these advice standards would be appropriate in an EU context? Are there others that should be considered? What would be the most appropriate means to introduce and enforce the application of advice standards? Please explain.
RESPONSIBLE BORROWING
Question 7: Apart from a focus on financial education, are there any measures that could be taken to encourage responsible borrowing?
CREDIT INTERMEDIARIES
Defining credit intermediaries
Question 8: Do you consider that the scope of the definition of Credit Intermediary as set out in the Consumer Credit Directive could also be applied to the mediation of credit not covered by that directive? Would it be appropriate to differentiate between full-time credit intermediaries and persons who offer credit intermediation on an incidental basis?
Please explain why (not).
Question 9: Do you think policymakers should make distinctions between credit intermediaries in terms of the products they sell (mortgage, consumer credit, 'point of sale' credit)? Should credit intermediaries be treated differently in terms of the status of their relationship with lenders (tied versus untied intermediaries)? Please explain your answer.
Role of credit intermediaries
Question 10: Could you give examples of cases of misconduct, mis-selling or any other instances of consumer detriment linked to credit intermediaries in your country?
Framework for intermediaries in the EU
Question 11: Does the regulatory patchwork for credit intermediaries present a problem,
in your view?
Information disclosure on credit intermediaries
Question 12: What would be the most appropriate way to address potential conflicts of interest, particularly with regard to fee/ bonus/ commission structures? Should any measures in this regard apply to bank client-facing staff as well as intermediaries?
Registration, licensing and supervision of credit intermediaries
Question 13: What are your views on the registration and supervision of credit
intermediaries?
Question 14: What are your views on prudential and professional requirements for credit intermediaries (such as minimum capital, professional indemnity insurance, educational or professional qualifications)?
Complaints and redress
Question 15: How do you think the activities of credit intermediaries could be brought
within existing complaints and out-of-court redress mechanisms?
COMMISSION PUSHES FOR 'RESPONSIBLE LENDING' BY BANKS
Published: Tuesday 16 June 2009
The European Commission yesterday (15 June) launched a consultation on responsible lending and borrowing, in an attempt to tackle credit market risks that were at the the root of the current financial crisis.
The consultation covers, amongst other things, the advertising and marketing of credit products, the pre-contractual information provided, ways to assess product suitability and borrower creditworthiness, advice standards, responsible borrowing and issues relating to the framework for credit intermediaries (e.g. disclosure, registration, licensing and supervision).
Brussels wants to review rules governing "ways to assess product suitability and borrower creditworthiness". "The issue of suitability is one that may need to be addressed because some borrowers have been granted credit that was unsuitable for them or their needs," reads a document which the Commission has put under public consultation.
As for borrower creditworthiness, the EU executive is evaluating a range of measures aimed at avoiding risks of default. The US sub-prime mortgage crisis highlighted practices which have pushed lenders to give money away without properly assessing borrowers' ability to pay it back, and these need total redress, the Commission warned.
"For instance, a lender may opt to provide a risky loan because it can always resort to the sale of the property held as collateral in case the borrower defaults. It can transfer the risk of default to third parties by issuing residential mortgage-backed securities or even sell the loan portfolio," reads the document published by the Commission.
"Moreover, lenders and credit intermediaries may have incentives not to undertake a thorough creditworthiness assessment to speed up the process and thereby gain new clients," the document continues.
Borrowers themselves are expected to face more stringent controls on their credit histories. For this reason, Brussels is studying facilitating access to national credit data registers.
Better coordination among national authorities within the EU can make it easier to verify whether a mortgage buyer has borrowed significant sums in other countries. Assessment by lenders should thus be more appropriate, according to a report published by an expert group set up by the Commission in September 2008. The group did not propose the establishment of a single EU credit register, however.
Brussels is also looking into the advertising and marketing of credit products, pre-contractual information, credit intermediaries' activities and advice standards.
The Commission is inviting relevant stakeholders to make known their views by the end of August.
POSITIONS:
INTERNAL MARKET COMMISSIONER CHARLIE MCCREEVY said: "The financial crisis has shown the damage that irresponsible lending and borrowing practices can have on consumers, lenders, the financial system and the economy at large. We are therefore determined to learn from possible mistakes to ensure that lending and borrowing take places in a responsible manner," he said in a statement.
EUROFINAS, which represents specialised consumer credit providers such as national leasing and finance associations, commented : "A key benefit in facilitating cross-border access to credit databases lies in improving access to finance for some categories of applicant borrower who are more difficult to assess, such as migrants and individuals who wish to buy a second home abroad."
In welcoming the report on credit histories, however, Eurofinas noted "that some lenders currently face unjustifiable difficulties accessing some databases," and therefore called on the European Commission "to ensure that member states transpose this provision properly and in a consistent manner".
Consumer associations took an opposite line. BEUC, representing European consumers, raised doubts about sharing credit databases. "The current crisis proved that the effects of databases on consumers' data and technologies based on such databases did not result necessarily in a more responsible credit and financial market. Such databases still need further and independent work, including on their desirability, proportionality and effectiveness, especially prior to their proliferation at cross-border level," reads a statement.
BEUC opposed the idea of shared registers due to privacy concerns. "The report does not provide the necessary restrictions/guarantees to protect consumers' personal data and right to privacy against a growing collection and aggregation of personal data and use of profiling techniques by the private sector," read its statement.
NEXT STEPS:
* 31 Aug. 2009: End of Commission consultations on responsible lending and borrowing, and on credit histories report.
*3 Sept. 2009: Public hearing organised by the Commission on responsible lending and borrowing.
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EC - PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON RESPONSIBLE LENDING AND BORROWING IN THE EU (15 June 2009)
Title Consultation on Responsible Lending and Borrowing in the EU
Policy field(s) Internal market, Responsible lending
Target group(s) All citizens and organisations are welcome to contribute to this consultation. Contributions are particularly sought from consumer organisations, the financial services industry and public authorities.
Period of consultation From 15.6.2009 to 31.8.2009
Objective of the consultation In its Communication to the Spring European Council Driving European Recovery of 4 March 2009 – COM(2009)114, available at http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/president/index_en.htm – the European Commission undertook to come forward with measures at EU level on responsible lending and borrowing, including a reliable framework on credit intermediation, in the context of delivering responsible and reliable markets for the future and restoring consumer confidence. Building on previous consultations and policy development in the area of retail financial services, and especially mortgage credit, this consultation seeks to strengthen and deepen the Commission services’ understanding of the remaining issues surrounding responsible lending and borrowing, and to inform our analysis of the varying policy options in this area. The objective of this consultation is to collect stakeholders' reactions to the issues raised in the consultation document.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................
1.1. Scope and objectives of the consultation ..........................................................
1.2. Importance of credit markets.............................................................................
2. PRACTICES PRIOR TO THE LENDING TRANSACTION..............................
2.1. Advertising and marketing ................................................................................
2.2. Pre-contractual information...............................................................................
2.3. Risk guidance ....................................................................................................
3. BUSINESS PRACTICES IN THE CONTEXT.....................................................
OF LENDING TRANSACTIONS.............................................................................
3.1. Suitability and Creditworthiness .......................................................................
3.2. Advice standards ...............................................................................................
4. RESPONSIBLE BORROWING............................................................................
5. CREDIT INTERMEDIARIES................................................................................
5.1. Defining credit intermediaries.........................................................................
5.2. Role of credit intermediaries ...........................................................................
5.3. Framework for intermediaries in the EU.........................................................
5.4. Information disclosure on credit intermediaries..............................................
5.4.1. Information disclosure on the lender/intermediary relationship .....................
5.4.2. Information disclosure on the intermediary/borrower relationship...................
5.5. Registration, licensing and supervision of credit intermediaries ....................
5.6. Complaints and redress....................................................................................
6. NEXT STEPS......................................................................................................... |
