2013-06-28 – London
First consumer protection day held in Paris this week
The Joint Committee of the three financial supervisory authorities, the EBA, ESMA and EIOPA (ESA’s), seeks to strengthen consumer rights by enhancing the consistency of European rules on investment products across the banking, securities and insurance sectors.
At a consumer conference held in Paris, stakeholders from the EU’s financial industry discussed proposals on high-level principles including plans to improve product governance.
Previous experiences with the mis-selling of payment protection insurances (PPI’s), costing the UK’s largest financial institutions billions in compensation, have shattered consumers’ trust in banks and insurers and raised concerns as to the quality of financial products and the fairness of contractual conditions.
“As consumers, we are more demanding; we are more aware of our rights. And that is a good evolution of our society. In order to regain the trust and confidence of consumers, financial institutions need to provide an adequate answer to this change”, said EIOPA chairman Gabriel Bernadino in his opening speech at the Paris conference.
Bernadino and his colleagues urged the industry to make better efforts to internalise their clients’ needs and to identify and respond to changing consumer trends.
The three ESA’s form part of the micro-prudential arm of the European System of Financial Supervisors (ESFS).
