The UK’s Financial Services Consumer Panel (FSCP) is proposing “four pillars” of consumer protection, which it says should be used to guide policymaking, particularly in the European Union (EU).
The FSCP is marking World Consumer Rights Day by launching its new framework aimed at enabling more effective assessment of legislation, standards and supervision, based around four principles of: access, value, redress and policing, which it says could be used to test any new regulatory measures. “If applied consistently, they could enshrine the consumer perspective in new and developing legislation,” it says.
In particular, the principles call for: consumers to have real, universal access to the financial services they need; financial services to offer value to the customer, and that charges and costs must be fair, transparent and proportionate; that consumers must have practical access to binding redress; and, the policing of financial services rules must be effective, with tough enforcement and appropriate penalties.
“We envisage our four pillars of consumer protection stimulating a debate on consistent thinking on consumer protection across the EU,” said Adam Phillips, chair of the FSCP. “We would urge legislators and regulators to test everything they do against these four principles.”
The panel says that, with the EU established as a key driver of financial services reform, it believes “there is now a huge opportunity to put consumers at the heart of the legislative and supervisory agenda throughout Europe. A day promoting and celebrating consumer rights is an opportune time to launch a new approach to consumer protection.”
“There needs to be a dialogue involving consumer bodies, legislators, regulators and supervisory bodies to ensure that consumers get a fair deal and that their rights are safeguarded and promoted. Throughout Europe there is already recognition of the need to promote fairness, transparency and simplicity. We put forward the Four Pillars as a pragmatic tool to help implement this agenda,” he added.