Following a flood of financial services complaints from consumers in Spain, the government is planning to create a consumer protection authority, Reuters reported Tuesday (April 5).
The mission of the new agency would be to guarantee banks and financial institutions (FIs) meet their obligations toward customers, particularly elders; respond to complaints of unfair lending practices and those who have been denied services.
“(Financial services) is the area with the highest number of complaints from citizens, and one that has a very high degree of litigation,” Spain’s Vice President and Minister for Economy and Digitalization Nadia Calviño told reporters, according to the news outlet.
She acknowledged the shift to digital banking, which has soared since the start of COVID-19, had left some residents excluded from financial services.
The new agency will take the regulatory authority functions previously performed by the Bank of Spain, the National Securities Market Commission, the body responsible for the supervision and inspection of Spanish securities markets and the Directorate-General for Insurance and Pension Funds, which monitors Spain’s insurance and pension fund sectors.
The unnamed regulatory body is still in draft legislation form. It would take on the responsibilities of those entities to regulate financial service companies, investment companies, payment companies, FinTechs and providers of cryptocurrency.
It would be funded through a fee of 250 euros ($273), levied on the financial firm involved for each complaint. No timetable has yet been for creation of the new authority.
Last summer, the European Commission proposed revisions to two sets of European Union regulations protecting consumer rights.
Read also: EC Calls For COVID-Inspired Consumer Protections
The commission says its move is prompted by the way COVID-19 has accelerated digitization while leaving many people facing financial uncertainty.
In 2020, more than 70% of consumers shopped online, often purchasing new gadgets. The commission’s proposed General Product Safety Regulation will introduce product safety rules for online marketplaces to address risks such as cybersecurity threats.
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