The Government considers locating the new Financial Customer Ombudsman in Madrid

The Ministry of Economy leans today for locate in Madrid the headquarters of the new Administrative Authority for the Defense of Financial Clients, approved last Tuesday by the Council of Ministers. The final decision, however, has not been made and It will depend on the parliamentary process. of the bill for the creation of the new body, with which the Government intends to revolutionize the current public system of resolution of claims to banks, insurance companies and investment firms.

With the objective of decentralize the General Administration of the State, the Council of Ministers adopted an agreement last February to encourage the autonomous communities, councils and town halls can apply for host the headquarters of state public sector entities newly created. In fact, the processes to choose where the new ones will be located are already open. Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence Y Spanish Space Agency.

Economy rules out that the courts question its creation despite the fact that the banks consider it “unconstitutional”

This procedure, however, is not applicable to the new financial authority. “This institution is, in principle, out of that process. Its processing began before the decree for the designation of venues was approved. In any case, this will be confirmed or materialized when the authority is created”, explains the Secretary of State for the Economy, Gonzalo García Andrés, to this newspaper. Thus, the Royal Decree of last March that established the procedure for choosing the venues already provided that it would not be applicable to “those entities whose creation had been authorized or planned by a norm of legal rank” previous.

250 employees

The financial customer ombudsman will to assume the claims that until now manage the Bank of Spainthe National Stock Market Commission (CNMV) and the General Directorate of Insurance and Pension Fundsall of them located in Madrid, and aspires to capture part of the 250 employees that the Government estimates that you will need the current claims services of the three supervisors sectorial. The first two of these institutions, precisely, have shown reluctance to the new Authority and house Doubts that their officials want to join to the new organism. Economy, however, does not believe that there will be difficulties. “There will not be any problem to recruit the professionals who, logically, will partly come from the supervisors”, says García Andrés.

The number two of the vice president Nadia Calvinoon the other hand, deny any fear to which the courts may question the new authority, despite the fact that the banks consider several of its central aspects “unconstitutional”, as this newspaper announced. “We have thoroughly considered the precedents in other sectors and the opinions of the different expert bodies. I think the report Council of State has confirmed that all the work that has been done in those aspects that had been raised is solid, and therefore we are confident that the project is solid from the legal point of view and will allow the authority to be created and put to use work quickly“, he argues.

Changes in Parliament

Indeed, the Government has approved the bill without receiving the opinion of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), something that the law empowers him to do when the governing body of judges has not issued its report within the established deadlines. The CGPJ in principle does not plan to submit the matter to its plenary session until at least December and the ministry is open to do changes in the parliamentary procedure when you receive it. “We will read with a lot of attention the report of the CGPJ and, if there were elements that they could improve itwe would try to get the groups to consider it,” says the Secretary of State.

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García Andrés also explains why Economy has not attended the request of Economic and social Council (CES), advisory body of the Government in socioeconomic and labor matters, that the opinions of the authority are binding for any amount claimed, and not only up to 20,000 euros: “The vast majority of the claims are lower to that amount and it seemed to us that it was a good balance“.

The ministry has also ignored the request of the CES to remove the fine of up to 500 euros for the customers who repeatedly submit claims over six months that are manifestly unfounded and inadmissible. “It is very important, given the possibility that there is a some strategic use of the claims, that there responsibility by customers who complain. We will probably see later in practice that it will not be relevant in the activity of authority”, he maintains.

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