New European Union directives

In 2018, several new European Union legal acts will come into force. The main acts are MiFID2 (the second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive), PSD2 (the second Payment Services Directive) and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

MiFID 2
This directive is related to savings products except ordinary savings accounts. Its purpose is to improve customer’s protection and to increase transparency.

Regarding customer’s safety and transparency, among other things, detailed, simple and easily accessible information about the customer’s investment services and financial instruments must be available. For example, the data about the customer’s costs and fees must be reported.

Customers will also get a better overview of investments and return on investment. The bank’s savings products will become clearer and simpler for the customer.

A legal entity identifier (or LEI) is related to this directive.

PSD2
The purpose of the new directive is to increase customers’ products and services offerings. PSD2 directive opens the banking market to a greater number of players, as well as gives the bank new opportunities to develop and collaborate with third parties.
PSD2 will allow customers to use other financial players (third-party providers) for certain banking services such as account reviews, balance statements, transactions, as well as for payments, i. e., to transfer money to personal and others’ accounts. If the customer gives a third party provider access to their payment account information and/or the right to initiate payments from their bank account, the banks must make this possible for the third party provider. It is the customer who chooses what information they want to disclose and which payments to initiate.
GDPR
The purpose of the new directive is to increase customers’ products and services offerings. PSD2 directive opens the banking market to a greater number of players, as well as gives the bank new opportunities to develop and collaborate with third parties.

This regulation prescribes that all personal data are owned by the customer, which means that the customer must be clearly informed about how and for what purpose organizations use their personal data.

Private individuals are entitled to request the bank to delete the information stored on them and/or to transfer this information to another company or organization. This regulation opens up new opportunities to provide customers with better services, as well as to live up to their expectations regarding increased transparency.

GDPR regulation came into force on May 25th, 2018.

Find Swedbank Principles of Processing Personal Data here.

Contact Swedbank Data Protection Officer at duomenuapsauga@swedbank.lt or by mail: Swedbank, to the data protection officer, Konstitucijos pr. 20A, Vilnius.