Des réponses mitigées aux propositions de services bancaires de détail[en] 

In its Green Paper , adopted by on 30 April, the Commission set out the "overarching objectives" of opening the market in retail financial services to more competition and giving consumers greater choice, more competitive pricing and better protection.
The public debate launched with the Green Paper focuses on financial products, purchased by individual consumers in their everyday lives, such as bank accounts, loans, mortgages, investments and insurances.
The Commission consultation is based on the findings of the White Paper on Financial Services  (2005), as well as the results of the retail banking sector inquiry  and the interim report on business insurance  earlier this year.

Stakeholder views on how to best serve consumers' interests largely diverged during a public hearing on the Commission's Green Paper on Retail Financial Services on 19 September in Brussels.

Presenting the findings of the consultation, Internal Market and Services Director General Jörgen Holmquist said that there was a "general consensus that retail financial services will remain local", with cross-border services representing merely 1% of activities. Nevertheless, he argued: "We want to make life easier for consumers."

Holmquist said that diverging consumer protection rules were seen as a major obstacle, and underlined the need for harmonisation. Consumer groups, however, oppose maximum harmonisation, as they fear that this could lead to an overall reduction of protection levels.

According to the Commission, the consultation showed that there is a consensus on the importance of consumer education and literacy, but the hearing revealed that there are different views on how this should be achieved. Industry representatives argued that it was more important to present targeted information than present consumers with piles of paper.

Socialist MEP and rapporteur for the Parliament's response to the Financial Services Action Plan (FSAP), Ieke van den Burg, said that Parliament was "more sceptical about opening up the market in retail financial services". She warned that the Commission "should not simply overhaul national consumer protection traditions with a ‘one size fits all’ approach" arguing that "cross-border access is not a goal in itself". Van den Burg advocated a more "focused and targeted approach" instead of "maximum harmonisation".

Matthias Bauer  of Raiffeisen Capital Management (RCM) and president of the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA), argued that in order to better protect consumers, information should be high level and formulated in an understandable language.

Consumer association representative  Guillaume Prache (FAIDER) said that in order to allow consumers to compare offers across the EU, information had to come in the same format. He also stressed that there were "obvious conflicting interests" when providers of retail financial services are also expected to act as advisers for consumers.

Andrew Smart, Chief Risk Officer at Zurich Financial Services and Member of the Association of British Insurers (ABI), warned that too much detailed information could act as a "barrier to access" of retail financial consumers, arguing that "less can be more".