Sentence | WEMONEY Laboratory
The Central Financial Work Conference emphasized that the road to financial development with Chinese characteristics must adhere to the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee over financial work and adhere to the people-centered value orientation.
Doing a good job in protecting the rights and interests of financial consumers is a concentrated embodiment of the political and people's nature of financial work, and it is also an inevitable requirement for promoting the high-quality development of the financial industry. The new round of institutional reform has transferred the financial consumer protection responsibilities of the People's Bank of China and the investor protection responsibilities of the China Securities Regulatory Commission to the State Financial Regulatory Administration, thus forming a unified functional system of financial consumers and investor protection institutions. The State Administration of Financial Supervision has proposed to speed up the construction of a "large consumer protection" work pattern, and the protection of the rights and interests of financial consumers has been raised to an unprecedented height.
At present, strengthening the protection of the rights and interests of financial consumers has not only become the top priority of the regulatory authorities, but also the key to improving the customer service scenarios and service quality of various financial institutions. This year is an important window period for the protection of the rights and interests of financial consumers, and it is also a stage for financial industry practitioners to cooperate with regulatory authorities to discuss and form a consensus.
Financial consumer protection is an important focus of the current regulatory "seesaw".
Awareness of financial consumer protection needs to be systematically understood at a higher level.
At present, financial issues are not only the problems of the industry itself, but have become highly politicized and commercialized, and have become an increasingly unavoidable focus in the overall economic and social development. This also means that practitioners in the financial industry are not only faced with industry regulators, but also with how the top management judges the balance between financial value and financial security.
For practitioners, how to accurately grasp the "seesaw" of policy is crucial.
A look back at decades of financial regulation reveals some clues. Before 2013, China's economy was in an upward cycle, and at the same time, there were not too many risks in the financial industry, and the expectations of the policy level for the financial industry were relatively high. At this stage, when the core policy level is dealing with financial issues, the "seesaw" is more biased towards the financial value end.
The policy formulation of the Central Financial Work Conference has also undergone subtle changes:
The first is to effectively promote the construction of the mainland as a financial power. It should be admitted that at present, the mainland's financial industry is already in the forefront of the world in many scale indicators, and has made remarkable achievements in the construction of the financial system, but there are still deficiencies in the quality of development, structural allocation, service efficiency and effectiveness, and there are still weaknesses in the ability to cope with the impact of internal and external risks. Therefore, in the face of the challenge of "great changes unseen in a century", the financial industry urgently needs to strengthen high-quality development to truly improve the intrinsic quality and efficiency and comprehensive competitiveness of finance.
The second is to serve the requirements of the "strategy of strengthening the country". The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that it is necessary to "build China into a modern socialist country in an all-round way, realize the second centenary goal, and comprehensively promote the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with Chinese-style modernization", and stressed that by 2035, it is necessary to build a strong country in education, science and technology, talent, culture, and sports. In this regard, finance, as the "blood" of the national economy, also needs its own strong country strategy to be commensurate with it.
At present, the policy layer is on the "seesaw" of financial value and financial security, hoping that finance will play a little more value, unlike previous years, only considering risks and security issues, finance can not simply lie flat, to better serve the strategy of strengthening the country, and give full play to its own value.
To build a financial power, we must focus on promoting the optimization of the financial supply side. We have seen that financial supply should not only emphasize "quantity" but also "quality", and only by increasing "effective financial supply" and reducing inefficient or even "negative" supply can we make the "water source" of financial irrigation more abundant and abundant.
At the same time, it is necessary to pay attention to the matching and cultivation of the financial demand side. At present, the financial needs of various economic entities in the mainland have become more diversified and three-dimensional, and if the financial development is unbalanced and inadequate, and it is impossible to meet the reasonable financial needs, it will be difficult to truly implement the "performance" of financial operations; at the same time, financial activities have a certain degree of professionalism and particularity, and it is also necessary to cultivate a healthier "effective demand" through financial consumer protection and education. In fact, financial consumer protection has become an important focus of the current regulatory "seesaw".
Accurately understand the difficulties and controversies in financial consumer protection
A comprehensive and accurate understanding of the protection of financial consumer rights and interests requires different perspectives and dimensions. The first is the basic level, including the theoretical, institutional and conceptual connotation, the second is the financial system and regulatory level, the third is the organizational and technical level, and the last is the working level.
Among them, how to adapt to the rules and requirements of the digital era at the institutional level, optimize the hard system and soft system, and how to grasp the balance between the efficiency and safety of fintech supervision at the regulatory level, so as to prevent systemic risks and deviations in the financial system, is the foundation of financial consumer protection.
At the intermediate level, there is still a lot of room for optimization in terms of the departmental and organizational structure of financial consumer protection. In the past, the problem that plagued us was that unless we encountered major risk events and important instructions, many problems often could not find the ultimate responsible entity in the end.
Then there is the technical level, because the problems encountered by a large number of financial consumers are still attributed to high costs and high efficiency, which cannot be solved by relying on existing manpower and resources, and making full use of new technologies can actually alleviate many contradictions.
As for the work level, it is to solve the problems of who, who, and how to protect financial consumers.
"Who should financial consumer protection protect"?
It should be noted that the concept of financial consumers is completely different from that of traditional consumption, because the financial industry chain, financial products and services have completely different characteristics, which requires the difference between financial consumption behavior and subject and traditional consumption.
First of all, considering that the financial system and financial elements have become increasingly complex, commensurate with the basic financial functions of money, capital and resources, equity refinement, risk management, payment and clearing, and confidence management, there are also rich and diversified financial products and financial services, and these products and services are faced by consumers, who sometimes have completely different financial preferences and risk tolerances, which are difficult to roughly classify.
Second, it is also necessary to effectively distinguish between vulnerable financial consumers, ordinary financial consumers and high-net-worth individuals. Because, while these consumers have the same rights in some respects, there is also a need for consistent protection principles. However, at the same time, people such as the "elderly, weak, sick and disabled" and "unemployed" tend to have a lower level of risk tolerance and risk identification, so they are more in need of "additional protection" beyond the average level;
Finally, it is necessary to effectively distinguish between "normal financial consumers" and "malicious financial consumers". In various financial cases or risky events, in addition to ordinary consumers seeking protection, there are also many consumers who "collude" with "unscrupulous financial practitioners" to seek additional benefits.
What should financial consumer protection "protect"?
The focus of financial consumer protection should be on all kinds of financial "rights". In the era of big data, we need to pay more attention to the protection of individual information privacy, use legal forms to clarify the principles and boundaries of information collection, and clearly prohibit the abuse of "big data" to collect unnecessary information and infringe on citizens' privacy. On the basis of the authorization to collect and inquire about personal information, it is also necessary to explore how to better protect consumers' rights to know and object, and third, to protect contractual interests to prevent financial service providers from taking advantage of contractual loopholes to infringe on consumers' interests. And so on, all of which need to jump out of the traditional fuzzy thinking and carry out precise positioning.
"By whom" should financial consumer protection be protected?
First of all, in the past, a large number of problems arose from the intersection of supervision or blank areas, under the new regulatory reform framework, by the State Administration of Financial Supervision to carry out the unification of functions, but it does not mean that the problem of regulatory coordination has been completely solved, in the system, the way of behavior, relying on the rules, in fact, there is still a lot of work to do.
Second, financial consumer protection is also inseparable from the participation of the non-financial sector. For example, the mainland's economic policy departments, industrial and commercial administration, public security, procuratorate, and law departments are also closely related to this. Finally, in order to maintain a good atmosphere for financial development, we should improve the "soil" for financial reform. Including various industry associations, economic assurance intermediary organizations, experts and scholars, etc., should also be an important subject in promoting financial consumer protection, so as to form a "sky net" to promote financial consumer protection.
How should financial consumer protection be protected?
In order to avoid the "fog and flowers" of financial consumer protection, it is necessary to build a multi-level protection mechanism.
Specifically, the first is legislative protection, clarifying the principles of law and system, and formulating a special "Financial Consumer Protection Law" as soon as possible. The second is regulatory protection, clarifying the behavioral restraint mechanism of financial institutions and quasi-financial organizations, and starting from the central and local levels. The third is administrative protection, and the establishment of an efficient mechanism for dealing with the effective demands of financial consumers. Fourth, judicial protection, punishment for violations of laws and regulations in financial activities, and timely handling of disputes. Fifth, self-discipline protection, giving full play to the complementary and restraining role of various industry associations and non-governmental self-discipline organizations. Sixth, social protection, by strengthening the publicity and education of consumer expertise, so that the latter is no longer always a "disadvantaged" group in terms of financial expertise. Among them, the most important thing is for us to integrate the consumer protection departments that are currently scattered among various regulatory agencies as soon as possible to create an independent financial consumer protection agency.
Prospects for the key aspects of financial consumer protection under the new situation
With regard to the protection of financial consumers, the State Administration of Financial Supervision has made key arrangements: first, to speed up the construction of a "large-scale consumer protection" work pattern, and second, to grasp the key of appropriateness management. Improve the appropriateness management measures and operating procedures, and urge financial institutions to strictly implement the "three appropriate" requirements for financial products, sales channels, and target customers; the third is to implement hierarchical handling through unimpeded channels; and the fourth is to treat both the symptoms and the root causes to resolve outstanding contradictions.
In terms of the work ideas of the Financial Consumer Protection Bureau of the State Administration of Financial Regulation, we see the following points:
The first is to sort out and improve the institutional system in the field of protection of the rights and interests of financial consumers. Combined with the problems of financial consumers' urgency, hardship and longing, and the urgent need to regulate the protection of financial consumers' rights and interests, study and improve the timetable and roadmap for system construction, and promote orderly implementation.
Second, we will continue to improve the quality and efficiency of financial consumer complaint handling. Establish a system of financial consumer complaints and reporting procedures and standards, formulate standards and screening methods for identifying "valid complaints", and improve the handling mechanism of "transferring, receiving, and handling" to ensure that the public's reasonable demands are responded to in a timely manner and properly resolved. Focusing on issues such as insurance surrender, credit card complaints, auto insurance claims, and early repayment of personal housing loans, such as strong public reactions, high social concern, and relatively concentrated complaints, while strengthening complaint supervision, we should systematically study solutions and strengthen source governance.
The third is to make every effort to build a diversified resolution mechanism for financial consumer disputes. Always keep in mind the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions of "insisting on putting the non-litigation dispute resolution mechanism at the forefront", adhere to and develop the "Fengqiao Experience" in the new era in the financial field, continue to promote the expansion and quality of offline mediation services, and simultaneously strengthen online dispute mediation. Guiding opinions have been issued to improve and improve the financial dispute mediation mechanism that is professional, efficient, convenient and beneficial to the people.
Fourth, we will vigorously build a project to improve consumer financial literacy. Focusing on consumer needs and concerns, especially focusing on key areas of financial consumer disputes, weak links in suitability management, and the establishment of a culture of creditworthiness in the industry, coordinate and organize centralized education and publicity activities. Promote the construction of an education and publicity platform that integrates knowledge, functionality and interactivity, popularize financial knowledge, transmit positive financial energy, and let consumers "know financial principles and be understandable people".
In the coming period, the protection of the rights and interests of financial consumers will have the following specific starting points:
The first is to build a service platform for the protection of the rights and interests of financial consumers and a platform for financial product inquiry. By building a service platform for the protection of the rights and interests of financial consumers, we will realize the convenience of financial consumer services, the efficiency of consumer protection work, the early warning of potential risks, and the clarity of the rights protection environment. Build a full-category financial product inquiry platform to facilitate consumers to search for financial products issued and sold by formal financial institutions simply, quickly and in one stop.
The second is to improve the compliance and appropriateness management of financial products. Accelerate the research and introduction of rules and regulations for suitability management departments, promote the industry to improve self-discipline rules and operating rules for suitability management, build an appropriateness implementation supervision mechanism, pay close attention to the matching between the actual risk situation of products and the actual risk tolerance of consumers, and urge financial institutions to strictly implement the "three appropriate" requirements for financial products, sales channels, and target customers.
The third is to build a multi-dimensional financial service system for the elderly. Through the introduction of policy guidelines, the establishment of industry standards, the development of window guidance, etc., we will promote financial institutions to adhere to the "two-legged" approach of traditional financial services and intelligent service innovation, integrate online and offline methods, continuously optimize service processes, improve the level of services suitable for the elderly and barrier-free, and provide more convenient and efficient financial services for the elderly.
Fourth, optimize the regulatory evaluation mechanism for the protection of consumer rights and interests. We will continue to improve evaluation indicators and work processes, enhance the pertinence, accuracy and transparency of regulatory evaluations, actively play the role of the baton of regulatory evaluations, and promote financial institutions to take the main responsibility for protecting the legitimate rights and interests of financial consumers.
In addition, new technologies such as artificial intelligence are gradually changing the mode of economic and financial operation and service mode, which also raises new risks and consumer protection problems that are difficult to estimate. In this regard, it is necessary to conduct in-depth research and actively respond to the protection of consumer rights and interests in the development of new financial technology, and explore how to better use new technologies to improve the channels, methods, paths, and tools of financial consumer protection, so as to build a new model of financial consumer protection based on technical protection.
We also need to attach great importance to the challenge of financial consumer protection in open conditions. In the future, the "two-way opening-up" of the mainland financial market will continue to advance, and cross-border financial activities will become more difficult to supervise. In the next step, financial institutions will face the challenge of protecting financial consumers under cross-border conditions, and most financial institutions do not yet have the corresponding capabilities.
epilogue
The ultimate goal of financial consumer protection is shared finance, not opposing interests. The development of modern finance places more emphasis on how to serve the "good society" in Robert Shearer's mind, and financial consumer protection is also for the relatively disadvantaged groups in the financial system. However, in the long run, this is all about building a shared and win-win financial development model, creating a new financial ecosystem, and achieving "Pareto optimality" of financial innovation and development. In the process of continuously "expanding the cake of the financial industry", economic entities can better enjoy the fruits of financial development.
In this regard, on the one hand, based on constructive thinking, efforts should be made to build a continuous mechanism of mutual trust and win-win between financial institutions and financial consumers, and second, in addition to the micro level, it is also necessary to avoid systemic risks, crises and mistakes at the macro level, which will have a negative impact on the rights and interests of financial consumers.
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