In times when digitalisation has become an increasingly central part of our society, we are constantly connected with phones, debit cards and digital ID cards.
In recent years, in addition, the amount of cash has decreased in society compared to what it looked like in the past. This means that we are increasingly dependent on the debit card working when we are in the deal to shop. But in recent years, the number of consumers who have their account completed by the bank has increased significantly.
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Tens of thousands of accounts terminated by the banks
Without debit cards, it is difficult to do something in what has become modern, digital society.
By 2020, 45,000 bank accounts were completed on the Banker’s initiative, in 2021 that figure was 54,000 and 2022 as much as 60,000, states Today’s industry. In two years, the number of consumers who received the bank accounts ended by 30 percent, they say, with reference to the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, FI, compilation.
The newspaper now states that FI should deepen its analysis and therefore requests dialogue with the major banks so that they can follow how the banks worked with the right to payment accounts.
“A payment account is a prerequisite for being able to receive and make payments and thus a key to participating in society and avoiding financial exclusion. Therefore, banks must ensure that consumer access is only limited when absolutely necessary, ”says Malin AlpenHead of the Payments area at FI according to a press release, says DI.
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“The law is not so detailed”
The risks a completed account with the bank can entail is not only that individuals find it difficult to pay everything from food to bills. Often, the accounts are concluded because the banks suspect money laundering, which may result in other banks not receiving you as a customer if an ongoing investigation is conducted.
Sometimes the law on payment services with the Money Laundering Act simply collides.
But what rights do you have in such a situation as a customer?
“It is very difficult to say in these situations, because the law is not so detailed. As a legally resident within the EEA, you are entitled to a payment account with basic function, such as a debit card and any service where you can perform payments. But if it is contrary to the money laundering regulations, that right does not apply, ”says the lawyer Fredrik Nordquist who is the deputy manager at the Consumer Banking and Finance Agency to Dagens Industri.
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