Bank Supervision and Consumer Protection – a new marriage which has been ordered by the Financial Crisis and public opinion in the G20. But why now? The consumer day announced by ESA does not provide an answer. We miss any discussion of why those who are speakers now, in the past years before the crisis broke out even pleading to replace consumer protection as a whole in financial services by user advantages which led to the well-known deregulation and lack of supervision of financial markets.

But even the issues to be discussed for the future are disappointing. Financial services are treated like cars and bread: buy smart and all problems are solved. Advice, information is the core offer for consumers. Those who are increasingly excluded, burdened with usurious fees and interest, ripped of their old age retirement savings are especially forgotten. Those who had to pay for the rescues of irresponsible financial institutions with their taxes and their jobs are equally kept outside. Credit is no issue. Investors are the wanted reference group. Only if faces actually change, will politics of the financial sector have a chance to change and replace the protection of markets by the protection of people – even against markets. The solution for the financial crisis was non-market intervention with tax payers’ money. Why does ESMA think that consumers can be helped only within the markets? Nobody eats money, nobody needs investment and credit as such. These are tools for something which has not yet been understood in the financial system.

ECRC has to regret that its activities started outside the official Brussels without participation of the Commission have not been made superfluous by the inundation of references to consumer protection. Looking at the list of names the differences of 2003 have survived and politics has to do with people and people have names.


Joint ESAs Consumer Protection Day

 
Description
The “Joint ESAs Consumer Protection Day” is an initiative by the “Joint Committee”, which is a forum established on 1 January 2011, with the goal of strengthening cooperation and ensuring cross-sectoral consistency between the European Banking Authority (EBA), European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) and European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), collectively known as the three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs). 
Consumer protection is of core interest to the ESAs and together with the Joint Committee, the ESAs will continue giving it high priority in 2013. The objective of the event is to provide a forum for exchange and discussion on important consumer issues as well as on consumer protection supervisory practices.

Programme 
The morning programme will reflect on the Joint Committee’s work relating to consumer protection, followed by a panel discussion on the proposed Regulation on key information documents (KIDs) for investment products (formerly known as PRIPs). Delegates will be given the opportunity to learn more about the Joint Committee’s work in this area, also addressing related topics such as e.g. behavioural finance concerning the psychology of how consumers make financial decisions and how these individual decisions combine to drive markets. Finally, the panel will consider the question of who should be responsible for producing the KIDs and who should be liable for their content. 
The afternoon programme consists of three simultaneous panel discussions addressing specific issues followed by audience Q&A. Participants are invited to join one of the following sessions:

Session A) Consumer Trends and Financial Innovation

·         Importance of qualitative data

·         Key consumer trends:

(i) comparison websites; and

(ii) selling practices for payment protection insurance (PPI)

 
Session B) Sales Incentives

·         Sales incentives and mis-selling

·         Changes in sales culture
 

Session C) Product Intervention

·         Criteria/indicators for intervention

·         Balance of consumer protection, consumer choice and responsibility

·         Product distributors vs. product providers

·         Interaction between ESAs and national supervisory authorities

Target audience
Representatives from consumer organisations, national supervisors, the EU institutions and financial services industry (banking, securities and insurance/pensions) with an interest in consumer protection matters. The working language of this event is English.

Location
The event will be held at the Hotel Concorde Lafayette: 3, Place du Général Koenig - 75017, Paris, France.

• Programme (ESA Consumer Protection Day 2013)
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