The European Commission has presented its Data Act to ensure fairness in the digital environment and make data more accessible. Head of Digitalisation Tobias Tenner:
"In its proposal for a Data Act, the European Commission grants businesses and consumers additional rights to share data with third parties. Both will benefit from this. But there is a lack of balance: for years, banks have been making account data available to third parties via an interface that they have set up and which is complex and costly to operate. By law, these data are freely accessible and, to date, there has been no provision for banks to obtain compensation. Appropriate compensation, which is now envisaged in the Data Act, will ensure a fair balance of interests. There should not be a special rule for the financial sector: what we need is a level playing field for everyone."