Principles in Details
Responsible Business Conduct of Financial Services Providers and Authorized Agents
Financial services providers and authorized agents should seek an objective, ‘working in the best interest of their customers’ which leads to upholding financial consumer protection. For this ends, staff providing financial service should be properly trained and qualified.
First of all, the potential for conflicts of interest should be avoided by the endeavors of financial service providers and authorized agents. If conflicts cannot be avoided, there should be alternative mechanisms to mange such conflicts.
Protection of Consumer Assets against Fraud and Misuse
Consumers’ deposits, savings, and other similar financial assets should be protected against financial fraud, misappropriation or other misuses. Thus, relevant information, control and protection mechanisms should be provided with a high degree of certainty.
Protection of Consumer Data and Privacy
Protection of consumer data and privacy should be protected by the mechanism defining the purposes for which the data may be collected, processed, held, used and disclosed. Obviously, consumers have the right to be informed of date-sharing, to access data, and to obtain prompt correction and/or deletion of inaccurate, or unlawfully collected or processed data.
Complaints Handling and Redress
Complaints handling and redress should be accessible, affordable, independent, fair, accountable, timely and efficient. There may be an independent redress process available to address complaints that are not efficiently resolved via the financial services providers and authorized agents’ internal dispute resolution mechanisms.
Competition
Consumers should be able to search and compare between products and providers easily and at reasonable costs in competitive markets providing consumers with greater choice amongst financial services.
Up to here, we have had a look at ten principles suggested by G20 high-level meetings on the issue of financial consumer protection. As these principles never substitute existing rules and principle, they only complement. G20 members and any other interested economies, therefore, assess their national frameworks for financial consumer first, and then re-examine them in the light of these suggested principles. Ultimately, international co-operation should be promoted to support the strengthening of financial consumer protection.
