With the growth of the financial sector, both in terms of volume and complexity of products, there are certain challenges that create risks for consumers. That is why it is necessary to improve and develop the regulatory framework to protect the rights of consumers of financial services. These are the arguments of the government.
In fact, the proposed amendments largely adopt the best European practices for the protection of consumers of financial services, eliminating legislative gaps. Regulatory provisions have been introduced regarding the liability of institutions in the banking and non-banking financial sector of the economy towards consumers. Banks and NPOs, loan associations and operators of digital platforms, and other professional participants will be subject to sanctions on an equal footing with enterprises of the real sector of the economy in case of violations of the rights of consumers of financial services and unfair competition.
The Code of Administrative Offenses contains relevant additions. First, the scope of offenses that may be established in respect of payment service providers and/or e-money issuers has been expanded. Sanctions for non-execution of NCFM decisions are also established.
According to Adrian Gheorghita, Vice Chairman of NCFM, the lack of protection elements for certain categories of financial services consumers and the imperfect system of control in this field had long-term consequences. The consumer found himself alone with the facts of violation of his rights.
“The fact is that in the process of implementing the NCFM mandate as a regulatory, supervisory and controlling body for the protection of the rights of consumers of financial services, a number of inconsistencies between the provisions of some normative acts were revealed, which do not allow the supervisory body to exercise its powers,” says Adrian Gheorghita.
For example, on the one hand, an article of the Law on Consumer Credit Contracts (Law No. 202/2013) provides that NCFM is a supervisory authority with regard to compliance with the legislation in the field of consumer credit contracts, the subjects of which are “creditors”, “assignees” and “credit intermediaries”.
On the other hand, there is no legal certainty regarding the NCFM’s authority over credit intermediaries and assignees of rights arising from consumer credit agreements. And the existence of separate provisions on credit contracts depending on the type of creditor in the financial sector jeopardizes the realization of consumer debtors’ rights, as debtors are essentially deprived of any legal guarantees regarding the transparency and quality of credit contracts or regarding the actions or inactions of the creditor.
The entire legal framework is full of such inconsistencies. And each individual example may become indicative, but far from being the last. This does not mean that it is necessary to generalize individual cases of unfair attitude of banks and NGOs to consumer rights due to the imperfection of legislation. But the regulatory authorities should be able to respond to such cases and take measures, experts believe.
Revision of sectoral legislation will take a lot of time. That is why the final and transitional provisions of the package bill establish a differentiated mode of entry into force of changes. Thus, the provisions related to the inclusion of savings and loan associations in the category of supervised entities will enter into force on January 1, 2026. At the same time, the provisions related to information on insurance products will enter into force at a later date (9 months). At the same time, a consecutive term is set for the development of NCFM regulations, as well as for the compliance of supervised entities with the regulations.
In order to provide greater legal certainty as to the NCFM’s powers in relation to the subjects of legal relations arising from a CMTPL insurance contract, it is proposed to set out in a new wording. In addition, special rules are introduced on the general term of the administrative control procedure (180 days) for procedures covering more than one participant, which NCFM may carry out both in the area of capital market and in the area of protection of the rights of consumers of financial services.
