Since the outbreak of the crisis, banks have tended to withdraw from international commitments, reflecting not only a broad upswing in what is often termed “home bias” in finance, but also the intensified pressure to deleverage – a pressure which has been considerably reinforced by the decisions of the European Commission, concerned to prevent State aid to banks from distorting banking markets.
5 We also issued new regulations that prohibit automatic enrollment in overdraft programs, requiring that consumers opt in before they can be charged for overdrafts created by ATM withdrawals and one-time debit card transactions. Furthermore, banks will be required to offer the same account fees and features to customers regardless of whether they opt in to coverage for debit overdrafts.