The parliamentary groups that process the creation of the new Financial Client Defense Authority they are weighing penalize to the banks, insurers and securities firms that they receive more pronouncements against by the organism. Thus, they are assessing whether it would be possible for these entities to have to contribute more than the rest to to finance the body, as confirmed by various sources to this newspaper. The decision has not been made because it remains to be verified if legally it would be possible implement it, but it is a formula that is considered attractive for discourage entities that they have a worse behavior with their clientele.
Precisely, the economic vice president, Nadia Calvinohas opened this Thursday to modify the rate of 250 euros by claim with which the entities were expected to finance the new authority, although maintaining that going to the organization continues to be free for those affected. “The financing of the authority is one of the issues that have sparked more commentsboth in the parliamentary sphere and in the public sphere, are issues that of course can be tackle without any problem throughout the parliamentary processing of this bill”, he confirmed in Congress.
From different fields, such as Bank of Spain waves financial employersit has been warning since April of last year that the fixed rate of 250 euros per admitted claim could mean a perverse incentivesince entities could accept any claim less than that amount because it would be cheaper for them, which in turn could cause a wave of claims. “I believe that our financial system and our society is what mature enough as for avoid those abuse or dysfunctional situations that have been pointed out, but throughout the parliamentary process we can address this issue and improve the bill if necessary”, Calviño pointed out.
Governor’s Proposal
A few days ago in Congress, the governor of Bank of Spain, Pablo Hernández de Coswarned the parliamentary groups that the tax could cause a pull effect that would lead to a “increased conflict” between clients and entities. “A system in which the incentives are better aligned with the objectives of the bill – which we believe will fits the concept of ratealthough it would have to check it legally– would be to make the rate proportional to unfavorable claims. Some of you have even suggested the possibility that it also depended on the amounts. I think that perhaps more work can be done on this basis. The idea of penalize unfavorable claims and not simply the claims per se, it seems to me that it would generate the incentives that we all want,” he proposed.
The idea was liked by several of the main groups, but it is see if it is compatible with the public rates and prices law of 1989. In his opinion on the Government’s draft law, the council of state endorsed that the rate of 250 euros was in line with said standard, but with nuances. Thus, he warned that it was a “sui generis figure” since “the one forced to pay it would not obtain anything in return”. In addition, he expressed doubts that he would adapt to the principle of proportionalityfor which reason he advised Economía that it could be “possible, and it could even be convenientintroduce modulations in the payment of the rate when it comes to non-consumer customersso that they could assume the part payment or even the entire amount of the fee”
The groups also have on the table whether it makes sense for the rate to be the same for the claims individual than for collective. Calviño, likewise, has shown herself willing to change other aspects of the bill, such as eliminate that the big companies can turn to the new authority, whose use would be limited only to individuals, freelancers and SMEs. It has also shown its willingness to strengthen the protection that the body will provide to people who are denied a basic payment accountas well as to create channels of coordination between the authorities and the agencies regional consumption.
Bookkeeping
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The vice president, on the other hand, has gathered this Thursday with representatives of the elderly and the bank employers (CECA, AEB and Unacc), which, as EL PERIÓDICO has advanced, have engaged officially to keep savings books to clients over 65 years of age, as well as to create a “permanent forum” for monitoring of the plan to improve the financial inclusion of the elderly, the plan for rural Spain and the plan to help mortgaged people in distress. The bank, likewise, has committed to communicate “more proactively” the measures of this last plan, especially the possibility of repaying the credit early or changing it from a fixed rate to a variable rate at no cost during this year.
As Calviño has revealed, the mortgage plan has received some 9,000 requests since it came into force in January, which multiply by 15 the monthly average of the code of good practices in force since 2012, but it is still far from the more than one million potential beneficiaries that the Government identified. In the month of June there will be a mortgage plan evaluation to identify possible improvements and, in particular, “to review the application thresholds in light of the evolution of interest rates, wages and other relevant variables”.