Cheaper banking and card services beckoned for the European Union's 500 million consumers today as the bloc's antitrust chief promised measures to boost competition in the sector to cut fees.
European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes launched a probe into European retail banking markets in 2005 and has now published her final report, saying the sector was not working well for customers.
Payment cards, whose transactions topped €1.3 trillion in 2005, are a particular concern, the report said. "In quite a few member states, the users of those services are ripped off,"Ms Kroes told journalists after presenting her findings. "We will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action."
There were some crumbs of comfort for the two dominant card companies, MasterCard and Visa Europe, which Kroes had accused of making "outrageous profits".
The report held back from proposing the scrapping of so-called card interchange fees - a step retailers had demanded.
"The Commission is not arguing for zero interchange fees," the EU executive said.
Ms Kroes said she could not specify a correct level for interchange fees. "As competition commissioner, I will not and cannot go further to specify what would be acceptable levels," she said but stressed she would pursue firms that set what she saw as "unjustifiably" high fees.
The report shows that banking markets are fragmented along national lines with a wide variety of profit margins and prices among EU member states but not within countries.
The study uncovered competition concerns over payment systems, credit registers, cooperation between banks and setting of prices and policies. EU plans to create a single euro payments area (SEPA) from 2008 would tear down some barriers to competitors, the report said.