Press Release: New EU study lifts lid on financial exclusion

Millions of Europeans face an increased risk of social exclusion through lack of access to basic financial services, according to a new study presented by the European Commission on 28 May, 2008. It revealled that 2 in 10 adults in EU-15 and almost half in EU-10 (47%) do not have a bank account while many more have no savings and lack access to credit. The results of the study will be discussed today at a high level conference in Brussels, bringing together the financial sector, consumer groups, public authorities and NGOs. The initiative followed the Single Market Review of November 2007, where the Commission announced its intention to ensure that, by a certain date, nobody is denied access to a basic bank account.

European Commission: MEMO/08/344: Financial inclusion – Ensuring adequate access to basic financial services http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/08/344&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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