The European Accessibility Act and its Impact on Digital Banking

Imagine Maria, an 80-year-old woman living in rural Spain. She relies on online banking to manage her finances, but her failing eyesight makes navigating cluttered websites and deciphering tiny fonts a frustrating and near-impossible task. The simple act of transferring money to her granddaughter becomes an anxiety-ridden ordeal. This is the reality for millions of Europeans who face barriers to accessing essential online services due to disabilities.

‍

But change is coming. The European Accessibility Act (EAA), enacted in 2019, establishes a new era of digital inclusion. Building upon existing accessibility guidelines like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the EAA provides a strong legal framework to ensure digital products and services, including online banking, are accessible to everyone.

‍

While physical bank branches have traditionally offered accessibility features like wheelchair ramps and braille signage, the rapid shift towards digital banking has highlighted the urgent need for online accessibility. With approximately one in four EU citizens living with a disability, the EAA represents a turning point—mandating standardised accessibility practices across the EU's digital landscape.

‍

This legislation will transform the future of digital banking. By June 28, 2025, all new digital banking platforms and services must comply with the EAA's requirements, ensuring that individuals like Maria can manage their finances independently and with dignity. By June 28, 2030, all existing platforms will need to be compliant, creating a truly inclusive digital banking experience for all.

‍

Overview

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) encompasses a broad spectrum of services and products, significantly influencing the functionality of ATMs, public transportation, audiovisual equipment, operating systems, websites, and more. The EAA is closely aligned with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG),  building on them as a foundational framework for setting digital accessibility standards.

‍

WCAG, developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), provides a detailed roadmap for making web content accessible to people with disabilities. The EAA makes it mandatory for banks and other organisations to follow these guidelines, specifically WCAG 2.1 Level AA, in their digital services. This requirement ensures a consistent standard of digital accessibility across the entire EU.

‍

Websites and applications need to conform to the core principles outlined in the EAA, which are derived from WCAG standards:

• Perceivable: This principle ensures that all users can perceive and access information on a webpage, regardless of their sensory abilities. Content must be presented in ways that can be perceived through sight, sound, or touch, depending on the user's needs.
• Operable: This principle ensures that all users can interact with the website or digital application through various input methods, including keyboards, touch screens, or assistive technologies.
• Understandable: This principle ensures that users can comprehend both the content and the way operation of the user interface works. Information should be clear, consistent, and predictable, making it easier for users of all cognitive abilities to understand and use.
• Robust: This principle ensures that content is compatible with current and future user tools, including assistive technologies such as screen readers, voice recognition software, or braille displays. A robust site is designed with flexibility in mind to ensure that it can adapt to the evolving needs of different technologies.

‍

Implications for financial institutions

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) requires banks to make all their customer-facing services accessible to people with disabilities. This means that digital banking apps, in particular, will need updates to meet these requirements.

‍

Who benefits from these changes?

The EAA aims to make online banking easier for people with a wide range of disabilities, including those with:

• Limited vision: Including blindness, low vision, and colour blindness.
• Limited hearing: Including deafness and hard of hearing.
• Limited manipulation or strength: Including difficulty using a mouse or keyboard.
• Limited reach: Including difficulty reaching or stretching.
• Limited cognitive abilities: Including learning disabilities, autism, and dementia.
• Photosensitivity: Including epilepsy and migraines.
• Lack of vocal capability: Including those who cannot speak.

‍

What changes will banks need to make?

To comply with the EAA, banks will need to:

• Provide information in multiple ways: This could include offering text, audio, and visual formats.
• Offer alternatives to images and videos: For example, providing text descriptions for images.
• Ensure websites work well on mobile devices: This makes online banking accessible on phones and tablets.
• Use clear fonts, colours, and contrast: This makes information easy to read and understand.

‍

Consumer banking services must also provide identification methods, electronic signatures and security measures that are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. Which banking products and services are affected?

‍

Physical Products:

The EAA impacts the accessibility of physical banking products like:

• ATMs and other self-service machines (e.g., information terminals)
• E-readers
• Payment terminals

‍

Digital Services:

The EAA also impacts digital banking services, including:

• Digital communication services (e.g., email, online chat)
• Digital banking websites and applications

‍

In short, the EAA aims to ensure that everyone, regardless of their abilities, can access and use all aspects of banking services—both physical and digital—easily and independently.

‍

Who is Affected by the EAA?

The EAA applies to a wide range of organisations operating within the EU, regardless of whether they are public or private sector. It also covers companies located outside the EU that sell products or services within the EU market.

‍

However, there's an exception for smaller businesses. Companies with fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover of less than €2 million are exempt from the EAA requirements. This is intended to avoid placing an excessive burden on smaller companies.

‍

Timeline

Table 1 below shows the timeline of the European Accessibility Act with previous and past milestones of the directive.

‍

‍

What Happens if Organisations Don't Comply with the EAA?

The European Accessibility Act is a directive, which means each EU member state needs to incorporate it into their national laws. This is how the EAA's goals of improving accessibility to physical and digital products and services will be achieved across the EU.

‍

Because each member state will have its own laws based on the EAA, the penalties for not following the rules will vary from country to country. These penalties could include fines or even criminal charges.

‍

Conclusion: A More Accessible Future for Digital Banking

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) marks a major step forward in making digital services, including banking services, accessible to everyone, regardless of their abilities.

‍

By establishing clear accessibility standards and aligning them with the globally recognised WCAG guidelines, the EAA ensures that banks and other industries will need to make their digital products and services more inclusive. This means that financial institutions will need to work diligently to meet the compliance deadlines of 2025 and 2030, as outlined in Table 1.

‍

As the digital world continues to evolve, accessibility will become a necessity, not just a nice-to-have. The EAA is a driving force in shaping the future of digital banking, paving the way for a more inclusive experience for all users across the EU.