- The owner of the cashier may not charge the customer of another entity for withdrawing money from his network, but will bill the card issuer
- The cashier must inform before taking the money from the maximum commission that the card issuer can charge his client
The Council of Ministers has approved a Royal Decree Law (RDL) to regulate the commissions for the withdrawal of cash at ATMs of an entity outside the issuer of the debit or credit card. The double commission is eliminated so that the entity that owns the cashier cannot demand it from the service user but from the card issuer. The issuer of the card may or may not, totally or partially, pass on this commission to its client, according to its commercial policy. The cashier screen should inform the user of the maximum amount that may be passed on. The rule takes effect on the day of its publication in the BOE and entities must adapt before January 1, 2016.
The RDL modifies Law 16/2009 of November 13 on Payment Services and gives a balanced solution to the conflict of interest generated by the use of ATMs by clients of another entity. The other objective of the standard is transparency. Credit institutions must inform the Bank of Spain of the fees they will charge for the withdrawal of cash. For its part, the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) must submit an annual report to the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness on the agreements and decisions of the entities in relation to commissions. The first report of the CNMC will be issued in the first half of 2016.
Consumer protection has at all times guided the development of this standard, which has had contributions from the Bank of Spain, the CNMC, the OCU, ADICAE and the financial sector itself. In no case will the customer pay the cashier's owner when he withdraws the money. You will only pay a commission to the issuer of your card that will depend on your business policy. You will be previously informed to carry out the operation of the maximum commission that your bank may have on you.
If the withdrawal of cash is debit, the card issuing entities may only pass on to their client, in whole or in part, the commission paid to the entity that owns the cashier, but may not charge any additional commission or expense. In the case of withdrawal of cash on credit, the card issuing entities may charge an additional amount to the commission charged between the card issuer and the owner, linked to the granting of the credit. In any case this amount may not exceed that which the issuing entity charges its own customers for the withdrawal of cash on credit from its own ATMs.
The two entities, the issuer and the owner of the ATM, may freely agree on the commission to be paid by the first to the second. In the absence of agreement, the commission determined by the cashier's owner with respect to the issuer will be the same throughout the national territory and will not be discriminatory. Its amount may be reviewed every year and at all times it must respect the competition rules.
The Council of Ministers has also approved a draft Royal Decree (RD) on Compensation, Liquidation and Registration of Negotiable Securities represented by Account Entries and on Transparency requirements of the Issuers of Securities admitted to trading in an Official Secondary Market. This RD undertakes a profound reform of the system of compensation, liquidation and registration of securities to adapt it to European standards. It will mean a modernization of the operations of buying and selling of shares, which will result in greater efficiency in contracting and a reduction in transaction costs.
Thus, until now the sale of shares was implemented through the so-called “registration references”. With the reform these references are eliminated, so that the settlement of operations is simplified and considerably streamlined. A period of four months will be available, until February 2016, to adapt its procedures to the new standard.
In addition, the Spanish system is adapted to the European Regulation of central securities depositories, which enters into force at the beginning of next year. This will involve the liquidation of the operations in two business days from the hiring, compared to the three days that are currently required. The standard will allow the integration of Spain into pan-European post-contracting infrastructure, such as the so-called Target2-Securities system. Finally, the RD incorporates into our legal system the regulatory changes required by the Community Transparency Directive on issuers of securities traded in regulated markets.
The third of the royal decrees approved refers to the development of the Law of Savings Banks and Banking Foundations regulating the reserve fund that these foundations should constitute, which completes the legislative changes derived from compliance with the MoU of financial assistance for recapitalization of credit institutions in Spain. Banking foundations are those that hold 10% of the capital or voting rights of a credit institution, or that can appoint or dismiss any member of its administrative body.
They must provide a reserve fund those foundations that have a participation equal to or greater than 50% in a credit institution or have control of it, with a term of five years to constitute it. It is established as a minimum of 0.6% of risk-weighted assets. It can materialize in assets of high liquidity and credit quality and must be fully available at all times for use in case of recapitalization. It must be constituted in the banking foundation and be part of its balance sheet, although exceptionally and when certain requirements are met, it can be constituted as a holding entity.
The DR on the other hand delimits the concept of Public Interest Entity, included in the Audit Act of July 2015 in line with European standards. These types of entities are those that are subject to a more strict audit regime. This definition would include, among others, in addition to credit institutions, listed companies and insurance companies, bank foundations, pension funds and collective investment institutions based on certain thresholds of participants and partners as well as entities that have a turnover more than 2,000 million and more than 4,000 employees. With this modification, it will be passed to an environment of 1,800 entities.
Finally, and in what refers to Collective Investment Institutions, the RD makes more flexible the current mandatory liquidity coefficient of 3% that these financial instruments must meet. It is established that these institutions have a sufficient level of assets convertible into cash that allows them to meet the reimbursements within the deadlines established in the regulations and a minimum liquidity of 1% materialized in cash, in deposits, demand accounts or others.
