The synthetic indicator of cost (ISC) in a single number that summarizes the total annual costs of these products is one of the main novelties of the Framework secondary that the Bank of Italy will take on transparency of operations and services banking and finance.

The objective of the design framework is to facilitate the comparison of instruments widely distributed among users, to make more concrete the ability to change the account free of closing costs and renegotiate your mortgage without penalty, introduced by the Bersani decree.

For now, the work focuses Bankitalia Isc current account and on the opening of credit, i.e. credit limit available on the account for retail customers (who are defined as consumers, government and non-profit Small and medium enterprises with annual sales exceeding 5 million Euros). Further provisions are postponed until after the transposition of European Directive on personal credit, establishing a basis for calculating the APR also suited to funding other than consumption (the current does not include charges such as insurance mandatory on ‘property for the loans).

Since even current accounts and opening of credit may give rise to endless variations of use, the Supervisory Authority has planned three standard models (subject to change) derived from a sample survey, in which to pass the product on offer to be labeled with Isc.

For current accounts, including those online, are outlined 3 cases:

• operation at low, which has 29 movements (lines of the current account) of which 22 are fee exempt and 7 and a stock of 5,000 Euros;
• a media operation, with 131 movements (99 fee) and 10,000 Euros in stock;
• Operation at high, with 290 movements (207 fee) and 15,000 Euros in stock.

The operations include the fee asked to list the movements, cash withdrawals at the counter and ATM withdrawals at other banks, money orders, payments or payments by check, those the free, transparent communications, the sending of ‘ statement. The ISC exclude only the interest and taxes, and assumes that the consumer has not signed other financial products associated with the account, except for a credit card and debit cards. Transactions in excess, when provided, assume uniformly distributed in the year, thus their concentration could rise in time for the bill.

For overdrafts, less standard assumptions are more stringent. Bank of Italy suggests three ways to use, with a base of 10 thousand Euros of exposure for a period of three months, one for the full amount for 29 days, partial for 30 continuous days (1,000 Euros for 29 days and 5,000 Euros for a day), one always partial, but with a different intensity over time (1,000 Euros for 29 days and 10 thousand Euros for a day). This is because Isc opening of credit can affect significantly the commission of maximum overdraft, as well as interest expenses, the fees and expenses of investigation of the practice of trust.

The ISC be provided in information sheets to be delivered to customers cannot be exhaustive because of their different needs and therefore Bankitalia encourages brokers to make available online schemes that allow a calculation of Isc customized.