THE IMPACT OF THE 2007-2008 CRISIS ON THE EUROPEAN AND ROMANIAN LEGISLATIVE AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK IN THE PROTECTION OF CONSUMERS OF FINANCIAL SERVICES

Abstract

Inadequate consumer protection, especially in the US mortgage market, has not only resulted in considerable consumer harm, but has contributed substantially to the onset of the global financial crisis. In the EU, the miss-selling of financial products has also led to major damages to consumers. Given the potential significant detriment that financial services can cause to individual consumers and to the single market, it has become clear that consumer protection policy needs to be properly regulated in this area. The global trend is to include the responsibilities of information, financial education, consumer protection and transparency among the duties of supervisory and regulatory authorities. In the EU, enhanced consumer protection has resulted in improved transparency of financial products for consumers and better information regarding retail financial transactions. Stricter regulation of the financial products and services market has resulted in better solutions for consumers and an increased efficiency of the retail financial products market. The improved European legislation was gradually transposed into Romanian internal law. A number of legislative solutions, recommendations and actions to strengthen consumer protection in the area of financial services are put forward in this study with the aim to demonstrate that one of the aftermath of the financial crisis was an irreversible change of paradigm regarding the end users and consumers of financial services reflected in consumer protection legislation.

Keywords

• consumer protection
• financial services
• financial education
• digitalisation
• european regulation
• romanian law