G-20 High-Level Principles on Financial Consumer Protection

1. Legal, regulatory, and supervisory framework: Integrate financial consumer protection into frameworks  in a proportionate way and a consultative manner.

2. Role of oversight bodies: Assign oversight bodies to be explicitly responsible for financial consumer protection with the necessary authority to fulfill their mandates. Encourage a level playing field across services and cooperation among oversight bodies.

3. Equitable and fair treatment of consumers: Ensure consumers are treated equitably, honestly, and fairly at all stages of their relationship with financial service providers and pay special attention to the needs of vulnerable groups.

4. Disclosure and transparency: Provide consumers with key information about the benefits, risks, and terms of the product, including conflicts of interest associated with the authorized agent through which the product is sold. Ensure financial promotional material is accurate and understandable and not misleading.
Adopt standardized pre-contractual disclosure practices to allow comparisons among products and services.
Conduct consumer research to help determine and improve the effectiveness of disclosure requirements.

5. Financial education and awareness: Promote financial education and awareness. Ensure consumers
can access clear information on rights and responsibilities.
Develop mechanisms to help existing and future consumers develop knowledge, skills, and confidence to appropriately understand risks and opportunities, make informed choices, know where to go for assistance, and take effective action to improve their financial well-being.

6. Responsible business conduct of financial services providers and authorized agents: Financial services
providers and authorized agents should work in the best interest of their customers and be responsible for upholding financial consumer protection. Financial services providers should be responsible and accountable for the actions of their authorized agents.

7. Protection of consumer assets against fraud and misuse: Relevant information, control and protection
mechanisms should protect consumers’ deposits, savings, and other similar financial assets against fraud, misappropriation, or other misuses.

8. Protection of consumer data and privacy: Protect consumers’ financial and personal information by defining the purposes for which data may be collected, processed, held, used, and disclosed (especially to third parties). Acknowledge the rights of consumers to be informed about data sharing, to access data, and to obtain prompt correction and/or deletion of inaccurate, or unlawfully collected or processed data.

9. Complaints handling and redress: Ensure consumers have access to adequate complaints handling and redress mechanisms that are accessible, affordable, independent, fair, accountable, timely, and efficient.

10. Competition: Promote competitive markets that provide consumers with greater choice among financial services and ensure providers offer competitive products, enhance innovation, and maintain high quality service. Consumers should be able to search, compare, and where appropriate, switch between products and providers easily and at reasonable and disclosed costs.

Source: OECD 2011.