Publication: Slovakia : Technical Note on Consumer Protection in Financial Services, Volume 1. Main Report
Date
2007-07
ISSN
Published
2007-07
Author(s)
World Bank
Abstract
As financial markets develop and deepen,
one of the key issues for the fair, open and efficient
operation of the markets is the protection of consumers
rights in financial services. Be they bank depositors or
borrowers or investors in insurance policies, securities or
investment or pension funds, financial consumers need the
ability to accurately understand the terms and conditions of
their contracts and take action if the terms of contracts
have been violated. The Note is the second report in a pilot
program to analyze consumer protection in
financialservices.The objectives of the Note are
three-fold, to: (1) present a set of draft good practices
for assessing consumer protection in financial services; (2)
conduct a review of the existing rules and practices in
Slovakia compared to the draft practices; and (3) provide
recommendations on ways to improve consumer protection in
financial services in Slovakia. The Technical Note
wasprepared at the request of the Slovak Ministry
of Finance, with the valuable support of the National Bank
of Slovakia and other government agencies, ministries, and
non-government organizations. In the past the World Bank has
also prepared governance reviews of the Slovak financial
sector for banking and private pension funds. Few guidelines
are available for consumer protection in financial services.
Consumer protection in financial services remains a new and
developing area for which no consensus has developed on the
broad parameters against which a specific country might be
analyzed. This Note relied on the EU Directives related to
consumer protection and the reports of European
financialregulatory and supervisory agencies.
Other sources were also used. In the United States, the
Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange
Commission and other state, federal and self-regulatory
agencies have developed laws, rules and guidelines to
protect financial consumers. In addition, the 2003 OECD
Guidelines for Protecting Consumers from Fraudulent and
DeceptiveCommercial Practices across Borders and
the 1999 United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection
served as useful reference points for general consumer
protection not related to the financial sector. The
recommendations in the Note go beyond the provisions of the
EU Directives currently in force. As described in the EU
Consumer Protection strategy announced in March 2007 and the
April 2007 Green Paper on Retail Financial Services,
European financial consumers wouldbenefit from
stronger legal and institutional protections than are
currently in place. Both in Europe and elsewhere,
contemporary thinking on consumer protection is rapidly
evolving. The Technical Note takes into account the
international discussion on financial consumer protection
and evolving good practices in financial consumer
protection. Thus, the Note presents recommendations that are
applicable to the Slovak financial sector, but in some cases
go beyondthe minimum requirements set by EU legislation.
Citation
“World Bank. 2007. Slovakia : Technical Note on Consumer Protection in Financial Services, Volume 1. Main Report. © Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/60cc544e-357d-59cc-988c-70cc3dfbd431 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”