The European Banking Authority (EBA) has published a draft document to help consumers in the EU to compare payment account fees, under the Payment Accounts Directive (Directive 2014/92/EU). The EU directive was introduced in July 2014 and legislates on the comparability of payment account fees, payment account switching and access to payment accounts with basic features. 

The draft sets out the technical standards for the standardised terminology for services linked to a payment account, and the standardised formats and common symbol of the fee information document (FID) and the Statement of Fees (SoF).

According to the EBA, this will help consumers make informed decisions on the payment account that best suits their needs.

The standards introduce eight standardised terms for services linked to a payment account, as well as consumer-friendly definitions of these terms in all EU official languages. Payment service providers will have to use this terminology in two contractual documents: the pre-contractual FID and the post-contractual SoF.