France To Regulate Bank Fees For The Underserved

The government in France is working on a new plan to help the country’s poor in which it could cap the fees a bank can apply to them.

Reuters, citing comments from French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, said the plan was expected to be put forth this week, but the government in France decided to delay it after the break in the summer so that they can make more adjustments to the plan.

“I still need a little time to discuss with the banks and associations,” Le Maire told an economic conference in Aix-en-Provence, according to Reuters. The idea is to help the country’s poor by preventing banks from hitting them with a lot of fees.

This wouldn’t be the first time the government of France went after an industry. In March France sued Google and Apple, seeking fines of $2.5 million for what the country says are “abusive” contract terms when dealing with startups and developers. According to news from Reuters, Le Maire told RTL radio that he learned Google and Apple made price and contract changes on developers that sell software in Google Play and the App Store. As a result of those changes, Le Maire said he decided to go to court.

He further explained his reasoning when stating, “As powerful as they are, Google and Apple should not be able to treat our startups and our developers the way they currently do.” Le Maire said he believes the European Union will close tax loopholes that favor the likes of Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon as of the beginning of next year. As for the lawsuit, Google spokeswoman Mathilde Mechin told Reuters, “We believe our terms comply with French laws and are looking forward to making our case in court.”

An Apple spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment.