Co-hosted by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the OECD, with the financial support of the Goverment of Japan, this seminar brought together high-level officials and experts to address the financial consumer protection risks in an increasingly digital and financial world.

This event took place back-to-back with the annual conference of the International Network of Financial Services Ombudsman Schemes (INFO Network), presenting a unique opportunity for a fruitful exchange between Regulators and Ombudsman on financial consumer protection.

Programme

Session 1: Global and Asia/Pacific trends in assessing and addressing financial consumer protection risks: building synergies between financial regulators and ombudsman

This session idiscussed the potential synergies between regulators and ombudsman and identified ways in which they can better work together to advance financial consumer protection:

• What are the main identified financial consumer protection risks in Asia/pacific and globally?
• How are they addressed from a regulator and ombudsman point of view?
• What synergies are being developed at national level? Regional and international levels?
• What can be done to improve cooperation and consumers’ protection nationally, regionally and internationally?

Session 2: Harnessing complaints data collection to identify and manage financial consumer protection risks 

This session discussed how complaints data are collected and how the data can be used to identify consumer risks:

• How are complaints data are collected in Asia/pacific and globally?
• How is data used to identify (emerging) consumer risks and manage them nationally and regionally/globally?
• What minimum/basic complaints indicators could help compare risks across countries and identify national and international policy solutions?
• What other indicators could be considered?

Session 3: Making financial innovation work for consumers

This session discussed the opportunities and challenges that the digitalisation of financial services presents for financial consumer protection:

• How is financial innovation being used to better protect financial consumers (e.g. RegTech)?
• How is financial innovation being used to improve financial inclusion?
• What kind of regional and/or international cooperation would be useful to harness financial innovation while keeping consumers in different countries safe?
• What are the main challenges arising from financial innovation for consumers and thereby for regulators/supervisors/ and ombudsman both nationally and across borders? What solutions have been identified?

MEETING DOCUMENTS

Agenda

Presentations (ZIP)

LINKS

International Network of Financial Services Ombudsman Schemes 2017 Conference

Australian Securities and Investments Commission