European financial regulators have issued a consultation paper on complaint handling standards in the banking and securities industries
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the European Banking Authority (EBA) jointly launched a consultation Wednesday on guidelines for complaint handling in the securities and banking sectors. The regulators say the proposed guidelines will build on the existing guidelines on complaints handling by insurance authorities.
Regulators are seeking to develop a harmonized approach to handling complaints across the investment, banking and insurance sectors, which would apply equally across Europe. The ESMA and the EBA are proposing to develop complaint handling guidelines that are identical to the existing guidelines for the insurance sector.
“The objective is to provide EU consumers with a single set of complaints handling arrangements, irrespective of the type of product or service and of the geographical location of the firm in question,” it notes. “This will also allow firms to streamline and standardize their complaints handling arrangements and national regulators to supervise the same requirements across all sectors of financial services.”
Comments are due Feb. 7, 2014, and the ESMA and the EBA expect to publish the final guidelines in the first quarter of 2014.