Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 February 2014
171. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Finance the extent to which legislation is likely to be introduced which might have a bearing on the mis-selling of financial products by financial institutions with particular reference to the need to protect the consumer; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9068/14]
View answer194. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Finance the extent to which the alleged mis-selling of financial products has been brought to his attention in respect of the sale of such products to consumers over the past ten years to date; if any particular response is required under existing legislation in such circumstances; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9069/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 171 and 194 together.
The Central Bank introduced the Consumer Protection Code in 2006 to mitigate against the risk of mis-selling financial products to consumers. This was further enhanced by the 2012 Consumer Protection Code. Occasionally, the Central Bank receives individual consumer complaints about mis-selling and these are looked at on case by case basis. In addition, the Financial Services Ombudsman may make recommendations to the Bank on measures to deal with persistent patterns of complaints.
In 2009 the then Financial Regulator conducted a four part examination of selected credit institutions, life insurance firms and investment and stockbroking firms in relation to the suitability of investment products sold to older consumers. A number of issues of concern were identified during this examination such as instances where basic client information such as income and assets/liabilities were not recorded on the fact finding documentation of firms, not all institutions offer older customers the option of having a third party present at a sales meeting, and in certain cases firms did not give customers any advice on the level of emergency funds that should be maintained to provide for medical or other long term care expenses.
More recently, the Central Bank of Ireland has been conducting an investigation into the sales of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI). Eleven firms were required to review sales and, where appropriate, offer a refund to their customers where the PPI sale is found to be in breach of the Consumer Protection Code (the Code) since July 2007. The aim of this Review is to provide a straight-forward mechanism for the consumer to be redressed where policies were sold in breach of the Code, without any cost to the consumer. The Review should eliminate the need for consumers who were sold PPI by the firms above since 1 July 2007 to engage third parties or go through a legal process. The latest information on the PPI review is that the review of the 11 firms is drawing to close and all customers covered by this review have been contacted, with the vast majority of those eligible for a refund, having already received their refunds. I expect the Central Bank will issue a statement in Q1 when the investigation has been completed to its satisfaction. If the Deputy is aware of any additional specific issue with mis-selling, I would appreciate if he could provide the relevant details to my Department or directly to the Central Bank.
