Mystery shopping is an effective tool for regulators seeking insights into how financial institutions interact with customers pursuing products like personal loans, according to findings from a European Banking Authority (EBA) initiative.
In collaboration with five national authorities, the EBA conducted mystery shopping exercises focused on personal loans and payment accounts across 37 financial institutions, totaling 340 instances—250 of which were conducted in person and 90 online.
The results demonstrated that mystery shopping provides “immense value” by offering direct insights into firms’ conduct, complementing traditional regulatory approaches, as stated by the EBA.
However, the exercise also identified areas for improvement among some institutions, noting that certain firms failed to provide necessary pre-contractual information and disproportionately increased the total credit amount to cover bank fees without obtaining explicit consent from customers.
For further details, you can access the full report here:
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