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Retired Carlos San Juan, creator of the “SoyMayorNoIdiota” campaign, walks along a road with a campaign poster that reads “We deserve more human attention in its branches,” in Madrid
MADRID, April 5 (Archyde.com) – Spain plans to create an Independent Administrative Authority for the Defense of Financial Clients, whose objective is to guarantee that banks and other financial institutions fulfill their obligations towards clients, responding to complaints regarding unfair mortgage loans as well as to financial exclusion, especially of the elderly.
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A woman uses an ATM at an Ibercaja bank branch in Madrid
The Minister of Economy, Nadia Calviño, recognized that the change towards online banking, which accelerated during the pandemic, has left a part of the population more exposed to financial exclusion.
“To this phenomenon of digital transformation is added the asymmetry between clients and financial institutions that characterizes an area that is the one that receives the most complaints from citizens, which is subject to very high litigation,” Calviño declared in a conference of press.
The new authority, whose creation is included in a draft law, will bring together the functions that until now were performed by the Bank of Spain, the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) and the General Directorate of Insurance and Pension Funds (DGSFP).
It will assume the powers of these organizations in the regulation of financial entities, investment companies, payment companies and financial services companies (also called fintech) or providers of crypto assets.
In Spain, codes of good practice have had uneven success in the past, as in the case of mortgage contracts, where banks were given room to directly renegotiate conditions with customers. Mortgage claims continue to be the majority of those filed with the Bank of Spain.
This Independent Administrative Authority for the Defense of Financial Clients will depend on the Ministry of Economy and its service will be free for financial clients. It will be financed through an estimated fee of 250 euros ($273), charged to the financial company involved, for each accepted claim.
A timetable for the advancement of the bill or for the creation of the body has not yet been set.
(1 dollar = 0.9156 euros)
(Reporting by Jesús Aguado; editing by David Holmes; translation by Flora Gómez)
