On the 26th of March 2025, the European Banking Authority published the 9th edition of its biennial Consumer Trends Report for 2024/25. Among the trends observed for the retail banking products and services within the scope of action and monitoring of the EBA’s consumer protection mandate, the Report mentioned electronic money. Within this area, some national competent authorities warned about the lack of clarity on the boundaries between e-money and crypto-assets, while others reported the adoption of regulatory measures to adapt the national legal frameworks to, among others, Regulations 2022/2554/EU (DORA) and 2023/1114/EU (MiCAR). The Report also identified the topical issues most frequently identified by relevant stakeholders, including payment fraud. Some respondents reported instances where fraudsters forged the identity of the payee resulting in a modification of the payment order and purchase of crypto-assets. Others reported an increase of cases where fraudsters gained access to victims’ credit card data through scam techniques or by illicitly gaining access to their mobile banking identifiers, to then apply for a personal loan or make an investment, including in crypto-assets.
