The Independent Administrative Authority for the Defense of the Financial Client, or also called the Financial Customer Defender, is an entity that comes to solve claims against financial entities in an easy and fully free way.
The Council of Ministers has approved the bill to create and finance the Independent Administrative Authority for the Defense of Financial Clients and it is expected to be officially adopted and start operations in the second half of 2022.
This claim service for natural and legal persons who are clients of any financial product will have a very simple process, for which you will not need a lawyer. The client will simply report any abuse, breach of the rules of conduct or non-compliance with the solutions given by the company’s customer service. All this will be done comfortably by electronic means and also in person.
An ordinary claim entails a binding resolution for the financial entity of up to €20,000 within a period of 90 days or less, applying high fines to entities that fail to comply with the resolutions issued by this new authority.
How does the Financial Customer Defender benefit us?
As its name indicates, this new authority will have the function of defending our interests as clients of some financial product. If we cannot reach a satisfactory resolution with the customer service of a financial institution, we can go to the Financial Customer Defender.
This means that banks, platforms, finance companies and all financial companies are even more motivated to make their customer service more efficient and decisive, since the simple fact that this new authority admits a claim already represents a payment. €250 mandatory for the financial entity, in addition to the payments or fines that the authority ends up dictating. Thanks to these fixed payments per claim and to the fact that any resolution will be binding for the financial institution, this service will be able to remain completely free.
Perhaps you have already gone to an authority to file a claim against a financial institution, certainly some already exist, and the appearance of this new authority also benefits us by unifying and optimizing the service of the existing authorities. The claim services of the Bank of Spain, the General Directorate of Insurance and Pension Funds (DGSFP) and the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) will become the only Financial Customer Defender to streamline all procedures.
What financial entities does the Financial Customer Defender affect?
The financial customer defense authority will resolve claims involving all financial entities, these are the main ones:
- Banks
- Investment platforms
- Insurers
- Credit financial institutions
- Lenders
- Crowdfunding platforms
- Payment institutions and electronic money
- Fintechs
- Cryptocurrency services