EBA Report On Consumer Trends 2014

On February 28, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a report on consumer trends in the areas of consumer protection and financial innovation as well as the approaches the EBA will be taking in 2014 to address them.  New trends identified for 2014 include virtual currencies and comparison websites.

As a result of the report, key consumer issues the EBA intends to focus on during 2014 are:

• household borrowing;
• bank account switching and fees;
• traditional payment methods (such as cash, debit and credit cards, checks, and bank transfers) and non-traditional payment methods (such as mobile payments and e-wallets);
• digital currencies;
• crowdfunding;