Reduced competition in the Irish banking sector following the withdrawal of Halifax and Postbank from the market is to become priority for the National Consumer Agency (NCA), its chief executive Ann Fitzgerald said this morning.
Speaking as the NCA assumed the consumer information and education functions of the Financial Regulator, Ms Fitzgerald expressed concern that some banks operating in the Irish market were insisting that consumers who switched their mortgages from Halifax also moved all their accounts to the bank.
She said she also wanted the agency to address transparency of costs for consumers across the financial services market and increase financial education for consumers.
Staff from the Financial Regulator’s office have been seconded to work on the integration of these functions into the NCA ahead of legislation which is currently being drawn up to formally transfer the responsibilities on a statutory basis to the agency.
She added the NCA planned to investigate what banking products were genuinely being offered by Irish banks as opposed to what they were claiming to offer in their advertising campaigns.
The NCA will not have any regulatory or enforcement powers in the financial services sector and they will remain the remit of the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator.
“Today’s announcement is good news consumers in Ireland who, for the first time, will have a single body to represent their interests on consumer issues including personal finance matters,” she said. “They will also benefit from having an independent one-stop-shop for consumer rights and personal finance information.”
She said the financial services market was changing almost daily so consumers needed “to be equipped with the right information in order to make the best decisions possible when committing to financial products and services".
"The NCA will place a particular emphasis on financial education for consumers, transparency of costs and declining competition between financial providers.”
It was also announced today the NCA plans to pilot a workplace financial education programme based on the commitments made in the report of the Steering Group on Financial Education where volunteers from industry and other stakeholders support the delivery of personal finance education in the workplace and the community.
“At the end of the day Irish consumers want to make well informed, smart choices,” said Ms Fitzgerald.
“People have become more careful about what, where and how they spend their money. We have seen a serious shift in shopping habits where the household budget is concerned. People have learned to vote with their feet, spread their shopping basket and switch provider where necessary. We would like to see this trend mirrored as far as possible in the personal finance sector.”
