Consumer Trends Report: 77% of loans to European households are mortgages

04/03/2019

• What it is

On 20 February 2019, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published the sixth edition of the Consumer Trends Report (CTR) for 2018 and 2019. The CTR is a report that covers the most significant trends and issues for EU consumers relating to retail banking, such as mortgages, consumer credit, payment services and electronic money, payment accounts and deposits. The CTR also identifies the most topical issues that impact or may impact banking product and service consumers.

The report builds on information provided by the national competent authorities of the 28 EU Member States, as well as on input received from other stakeholders, such as national and EU consumer associations, members of the Financial Dispute Resolution Network (FIN-NET) and EU industry associations. The CTR also takes into account quantitative data from the European Central Bank and the World Bank.

• Key trends and issues identified

The EBA observes that mortgages continue to have a big impact on consumers' personal finances, representing around 77% of loans to households, and follow a trend of a slight increase in terms of volume and value for the last five years. During the same period, the volume of consumer credit was relatively stable, while deposits slightly decreased in their volume. The EBA observes that the number of people holding a payment account within the EU increased and covered a significant percentage of the EU population. This may have contributed to the significant increase in the use of digital and online payment services.

The Report identified the following most relevant topics that impact or may impact banking product and service consumers: (i) fees and charges; (ii) indebtedness, responsible lending and creditworthiness assessment; (iii) financial literacy; (iv) transparency and disclosure of pre-contractual information and changes in contractual terms and conditions; (v) personal data breach and cyber security; and (vi) cross-border selling of products and services. It should be noted that these topics focus mainly on issues related to consumer detriment arising from the lack of transparency and disclosure of information on fees and charges, poor creditworthiness assessments, and the complexity of financial products.

• Consult

The full Consumer Trends Report 2018/19 is available (in English) on the European Banking Authority's websiteAbre en ventana nueva