The First Vice President and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, has assured in the press conference after the Council of Ministers that will meet this Thursday with the bank to review the application of the three codes of good practice adopted in the last year and the possibility of taking additional measures or not.
Calviño has mentioned the three codes or protocols that the banking employers have prepared that they launched in 2022, in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy, and to which the entities have been joining: the protocol with measures that improve care for the elderly 65 years old and people with disabilities, the protocol to improve the physical service in rural areas, and the codes of good practice for families with variable mortgages and in difficulties due to the rise in interest rates.
“We are going to have an exchange that I hope will be as productive as the previous ones to continue moving forward and identify how these codes of good practice are working”
The vice president added in her statements that she will or will not take additional measures or make some kind of modification in this regard. In February 2022, banking associations AEB, CECA and Unacc signed an update of their ‘Strategic Protocol to Reinforce the Social and Sustainable Commitment of Banks’ with measures to improve care for the elderly, such as the extension of cashier service hours; Mandatory specific training of bank staff on the needs of the group, or the implementation of preferential telephone service at no additional cost for the elderly.
On the other hand, last October, the banking sector outlined the ‘Roadmap to strengthen financial inclusion in rural areas’ with the sole objective of offering options that ensure access to banking services in all Spanish municipalities.
At the end of November, the employers reached an agreement with the Economy to update the 2012 Code of Practice on debt restructuring and adapt it to the current situation of rapid rises in interest rates that can impact families with mortgage loans.
Financial Client Defense Authority
Nadia Calviño also recalled during the press conference that this Thursday the entire bill for the creation of the Financial Client Defense Authority will be debated in the Congress of Deputies. “It’s about a very important bill which will allow, among other advances, that this new authority also has the capacity to resolve conflicts that affect or derive from codes of good practice”, explained the first vice-president.
In addition, he hopes that the two amendments to the totality that Vox and ERC have presented against this bill will be withdrawn. “This is a necessary bill, positive and very demanding by the representatives of financial clients”, defended the vice-president.
These ERC and Vox return amendments, which will be voted on Thursday, are based on the idea that the new body being prepared by the Government is not necessary, either because the current system works or because there are other ways that do not imply the creation of a new entity.
