One of the star measures announced so far this year by the Government is the Administrative Authority for the Defense of the Financial Client, which will issue binding verdicts for the entire sector in claims of less than 20,000 euros and to which the banks will have to pay with 250 euros for each admitted claim. The other side of the coin is that this new body may fine the claimant with a maximum of 1,000 euros if he went to the body with “recklessness or bad faith”, as stated in the current draft law.
There is still a long way to go for the text designed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, in a public hearing until May 12, and which is expected to be ready for approval in the second half of the year. But in its current state, there is the possibility that the authority will punish the client if he files the claim without any realistic criteria. When this is the case, the body must justify the causes that determine the imposition and its amount. “The imposition of this fine on the claimant will only proceed in the event that the claims made in the claim have been totally rejected,” the draft states.
The amount of the fine will be determined based on the “recklessness, bad faith assessed and the damages derived from the claim”, with the maximum amount mentioned, although this may be modified through a ministerial order.
The Minister of Economic Affairs and First Vice President of the Executive, Nadia Calviño, announced on Tuesday that the structure of claims before the new authority will discourage malpractice by firms that fall under its sphere of control. And so it is, since each claim admitted for processing will entail a cost, according to the current text, of 250 euros for the entity in question. The counterpart is that the claimant must also be sure that his request is not unfounded.
The authority will resolve claims on banks, brokers, insurers, financial credit establishments, participatory financing platforms, lenders and credit intermediaries, payment and electronic money entities or issuers and service providers of the so-called sector fintech and cryptoactive services.
entry into action
The approval of the norm that gives life to the independent authority of the financial client is foreseen from June, but its capacity to act will be limited to the fact that it has the budgetary allocation. “Its effective entry into operation is conditional on its having its own budget allocation in the corresponding General State Budget Law”, it is stated, and underlined, in the text submitted for public consultation.
Another requirement for the body to be operational is that the appointment of the persons holding the presidency and vice-presidency takes place. Until this condition and that of the budget are not ready, the claims services of the CNMV, the Bank of Spain and the DGSFP will continue to operate with the “functions entrusted to them at the entry into force of this law”.
Collaboration with supervisors
The new sanhedrin in the matter of financial claims will exchange with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and with the Ministry of Consumption, with the CNMV and with the Bank of Spain “as much information, general or specific, as is necessary for the best fulfillment of their respective powers”. The new authority, in addition, will report every six months on its actions to the aforementioned bodies.
There will also be surveillance of the behavior of the customer service departments of the firms. Both Economic Affairs and the supervisor chaired by Rodrigo Buenaventura and the one directed by Pablo Hernández de Cos will be informed of the “repeated discrepancies in the content of the resolution of claims” between the resolutions of the entity itself and the defense authority of the financial client.
Collaboration
The new supervisor’s ability to sanction is limited to non-compliance with his rulings, but this does not mean that he sits idly by if irregular behavior is detected. “When he becomes aware of facts that could constitute infractions of rules of conduct, he will communicate all the pertinent information to the competent supervisory authority due to the matter,” the text states.
Moreover, the authority may collaborate with the corresponding supervisor, at its request, in the determination and assessment of the facts that eventually give rise to sanctioning liability in financial matters, and with the consumer authorities, for the determination and assessment of the facts that could be considered abusive clauses.
ongoing trials
The rule contemplates the possibility that financial clients who are litigating in court on a matter that is the responsibility of the financial client defense authority abandon the court route to benefit from the umbrella of the new body.
#Fines #euros #reporting #bank #bad #faith #authority #financial #client