Ministers agree EU banking reform

The EU wants to make cross-border banking easier and cheaper

Reforms intended to make cross-border banking in the EU easier and cheaper have been agreed by finance ministers.

EU citizens should soon be able to use any credit or debit card anywhere in the bloc and set up direct debits to be paid into foreign accounts.

At the moment, some countries will not let businesses pay salaries into foreign bank accounts unless they set up a subsidiary in that country.

The new rules should come into effect by the end of 2009.

"A more efficient and competitive payments market will also mean that individual Europeans pay less for basic banking services," the EU Commission said.

The Single European Payments Area or SEPA is also supposed to make the use of new payment systems such as mobile phones easier.

Banking mergers

EU ministers also agreed rules about the grounds on which governments and central banks may block mergers.

The new rules follow complaints that both the Bank of Italy and the Polish government have been discriminating against foreign bidders for banking assets.

The guidelines set a shorter deadline of 60 days for regulators to consider a bid.

There will also be common standards to measure the financial soundness of potential bidders.