The digitalization of financial services allows consumers already today to inter alia check their balances online, make online credit transfers or purchase securities or insurances. While established financial institutions adapt their business practices to this changing market, new players with innovative business models (e.g. fintech and insurtech firms) emerge and transform the way consumers use financial services. Although these developments bear many advantages for consumers, they likewise imply risks, e.g. with regard to the marketing and information disclosure of financial products.
Against this background, the European Commission commissioned a behavioral study to pursue the following goals:
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Depiction of the landscape of digital financial services providers
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Mapping of the commercial practices encountered online
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Identification and testing of the drivers behind the effectiveness and propagation of these commercial practices through behavioral experiments
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Deduction of evidence-based recommendations for policy
ConPolicy implemented the project together with a consortium consisting of LE Europe, Ipsos NV and VVA Europe. Together with LE Europe ConPolicy was responsible for the design of the behavioral experiments, the implementation and analysis of a representative consumer survey, which was conducted in various EU member states and the deduction of recommendations for policy.
The results of the study were published on the website of the European Commission and can be found here.
