EU probes bank industry as firms gird for data-sharing law

LONDON: As the European Union prepares to usher in sweeping new data-sharing rules for finance, antitrust authorities are probing whether the banking industry is preventing rival services from accessing customers’ accounts.

EU officials carried out unannounced inspections on Oct 3 in “a few” countries amid suspicions that “companies involved and/or banking associations representing them” may have thwarted non-bank services, the European Commission said on Friday. The Dutch Banking Association and the Polish Banking Association confirmed that inspectors sought information from their organizations.