The debate over the use of personal information in the area of payment services has heightened with  6/7  the new Directive known as PSD2, which institutionalises the so-called TPP (Third Party Providers). TPP encompass “payment initiation service providers” and “account information service providers”. The former offer an alternative to the use of cards when making electronic purchase payments. The latter provide consolidated information on the status of the various accounts the customer has with entities, thereby facilitating financial planning. Payments account holders are entitled to authorise these third party providers to order payments on their behalf and/or to consult information associated with their accounts. Against this background, and irrespective of the usefulness of these services, it is important that customers should strive to understand the real scope of the authorisation granted, which may entail access to their account by a third party on the same footing as if it were the customers themselves accessing the account. Faced with risks such as the foregoing, magnified by the development of new technologies, I believe that financial education has a role to play. It may help, for example, make people aware of the change in reality that the digital arrangement of agreements entails or increase the digital competences of the public at large. The Financial Education Plan Mindful of the foregoing, the Banco de España and the CNMV continue working on their commitment to financial education through the Financial Education Plan.
But price controls cannot solve the issue of scarcity, which is often the main cause of high prices. The main disadvantage of capping prices is that price ceilings do not guide consumers to reduce their consumption of the scarce product. This has been the problem with price caps for energy, as it does not encourage consumers to use energy more efficiently, and nor do caps offer producers any incentive to increase supply. The alternative is targeted income support measures, which allow the burden of higher energy costs to be shared within a society. Unlike price controls, these measures preserve price signals and help to steer both demand and supply towards a new equilibrium. The main concern with income support is that it is more difficult to manage. How target groups are selected is a highly political issue and any such measures are an additional fiscal cost, so they need to be temporary and well targeted. In summary Headline inflation is falling in the euro area, but it still remains too far above the ECB's target of two per cent. That measures of underlying inflation are still very high is even more worrisome, as it indicates a presence of more persistent inflationary forces that can be difficult to break. The differences in inflation rates between the member states of the euro area have largely been driven by energy prices and the policy measures taken by governments, and they remain wide.