The financial regulator Bafin wants to better protect consumers from excesses on the financial market. “Because it is important to act more courageously, more innovatively and, if necessary, more aggressively for the interests of all consumers,” explained Thorsten Pötzsch, who heads the securities supervision department at Bafin, on Tuesday when the authority’s new consumer protection strategy was presented .
Among other things, Bafin intends to expand its market observation in order to “identify relevant topics even earlier in the future”. In addition to complaints from customers of banks, insurers and securities service providers, knowledge from test purchases should also be included there. In so-called mystery shopping, trained buyers act as consumers in order to get advice.
The regulator wants to sharpen the observation of digital business and sales models. “The Bafin will further strengthen its understanding of this and in particular the use of algorithms and artificial intelligence,” says the strategy.
Consequence of the Wirecard scandal
In addition, the Bafin wants to strengthen financial competence. “Bafin has started to modernize and improve its information channels in order to reach more consumers and to target particularly vulnerable consumer groups. This includes expanding its presence on social media,” the authority explained.
Overall, the financial supervisory authority made it clear: “Bafin uses its supervisory instruments consistently, innovatively and courageously to identify facts and remedy identified abuses.”
The reorganization of the Bafin is a consequence of the Wirecard scandal. The financial supervisory authority had been accused of not noticing the billions in fraud by the financial service provider. The then Bafin President Felix Hufeld was subsequently replaced by Mark Branson, formerly head of the Swiss financial regulator Finma.
Bafin consumer protection strategy Opinion Pötzsch November 22, 2022 Bafin overview page for consumers Bafin on the new consumer protection officer July 1, 2021
