The Bank of Spain warned yesterday that banks do not adequately inform customers about "the free basic payment account for vulnerable groups or those at risk of financial exclusion and about the account transfer service." It is one of the points for improvement that the Spanish banking regulator has identified after analyzing the service offered in 152 bank branches of 12 entities. This lack of information occurs in the midst of the debate on the risks of financial exclusion for vulnerable groups.
The field work was carried out at the end of last year. In the visits through interviews, it was analyzed whether the staff that attends the public offered accurate information to customers in the process of opening accounts, as well as on the operations and payment services linked to them.
The Bank of Spain also warned that the employees did not have a "detailed knowledge of the Informative Document of Commissions" in a generic way.
On the other hand, the regulator did consider the information provided regarding the "commissions regime for debit cash withdrawals at third-party ATMs and the essential security elements in electronic banking payment operations" to be adequate. It also considered “adequate the information provided on the services and costs associated with the payment account and regarding the system for the return of receipts authorized in the account”.
