APPENDIX
FINANCIAL SERVICES
CONSUMER PANEL
The Financial Services Consumer Panel (the Panel)
was established by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in December
1998 to represent the interests of consumers in advising the FSA
on its policy and practices and monitoring its effectiveness.
Subsequently, the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the
Act) made it a statutory requirement for the FSA to establish
and maintain a Consumer Panel. The relevant sections of the Act
came into force on 18 June 2001.
Role of the Consumer Panel
The main purpose of the Panel is to provide
advice to the FSA. Consequently the emphasis of the Panel's work
is on activities that are regulated by the FSA. The Panel is also
responsible for assessing and commenting on the effectiveness
of the FSA. In addition the Panel looks at the impact on consumers
of activities outside but related to the FSA's remit. Examples
include European issues and policy proposals by HM Treasury and
others. The Panel has regard to the interests of all groups of
consumers, including those who are particularly disadvantaged
in the context of financial services. The Panel can also advise
the Government on the scope of financial services regulation;
and consider other matters that assist it in carrying out its
primary functions.
How the Panel operates
The full Panel meets about 10 times per year.
In addition, smaller "working groups" meet monthly to
deal with species issues in more detail and to consider the Panel's
formal responses to FSA and other consultations. FSA staff and
other third parties are invited to these meetings and participate
in discussions. The Panel also holds meetings outside the FSA's
offices (most recently in Cardiff) with members of the financial
services industry, as well as with consumer representatives. The
Panel now has closer links than ever before with its statutory
counterpart, the Financial Services Practitioner Panel, with a
view to developing a better understanding of industry viewpoints
and working together wherever possible to tackle areas of mutual
interest. Although the Panel has less direct involvement with
The Smaller Businesses Practitioner Panel, we do exchange minutes
and hold occasional joint meetings. From time to time, the Panel
also commissions research to obtain a better understanding of
consumers' views and to identify areas of concern. A monthly report
of the Panel's work and concerns is provided for the FSA Board.
Accountability
The Panel publishes an annual report on its
activities. Annual Reports, responses to consultations, research
reports and other information is available on the Panel's website
at www.fs-cp.org.uk. The website contains the Panel's e-mail address,
but makes it clear that the Panel is not in a position to pursue
individual or specific complaints from the public about financial
services. The Panel does however consider carefully the wider
implications of any complaints or other information provided by
consumers and others who contact the Panel.
Membership
Panel members are appointed by the FSA Board
following an open recruitment process based on the Nolan principles;
the appointment of the Chairman must have the formal approval
of the Treasury. John Howard became Chairman of the Consumer Panel
with effect from 1 October 2005, having been a Panel member since
October 2000. Adam Phillips, who joined the Panel in March 2004,
was appointed Vice Chair with effect from 1 November 2005.
Members of the Panel have a wide range of relevant
experience such as consumer advice and advocacy, front-line advice,
legal expertise, market research, consumer policy and the media.
FINANCIAL SERVICES CONSUMER PANEL: CONFERENCE
FOR CONSUMER GROUPS IN THE EU
On 4 November 2005 the Financial Services Consumer
Panel hosted a one-day Conference for Consumer Groups in the EU.
At the end of the Conference delegates agreed a resolution to
be sent to the Commission which sets out the action that delegates
believe the Commission needs to take to ensure effective dialogue
between consumer groups in Member States and policy-makers in
Europe. My purpose in writing to you is to present this Resolution
formally and to seek your response by the end of January 2006.
First I should explain something of the background
to the Conference. The Panel decided to organise the event in
response to earlier comments by the Commission about the lack
of consumer representatives to consult on financial services issues.
Clearly something needs to be done. The Panel wants to ensure
that the positive and negative impact of policy changes on consumers
is communicated effectively to the Commission from an informed
standpoint in all Member States. We also wanted consumer groups
that are not/cannot be members of BEUC, for example, to have access
to a consumer-facing network of consumer groups in the EU. The
Conference was a first step towards meeting these objectives.
The principal aims of the event were to:
develop a pan-European network of
consumer groups interested in financial issues;
identify key issues for consumers
of financial services in different EU countries;
compare how the different groups
are working to tackle those issues;
debate how to get a more effective
voice for consumers in Europe; and
look at how consumer groups can work
better across the EU in future.
As well as consumer representatives from a large
number of Member States, delegates included members of FIN-USE,
BEUC and UK-based consumer groups. Speakers included Harsha Shewaram
from DG Internal Market whose input was particularly valuable.
We are grateful to Harsha for spending so much time at the Conference
and for participating so positively. We also heard from Dominique
Forest (BEUC); Manfred Westphal (FINUSE) and Paul Wright from
the UK Financial Services Authority.
The Conference, which was preceded by an informal
dinner the previous evening, went a long way towards developing
a pan-European network of financial services consumer groups and
we are committed to developing this further. As I said earlier,
Conference delegates also agreed on a Resolution to be put to
the Commission and a copy of this is enclosed.
I will be happy to provide further background
to the Resolution and also to answer any questions you have, either
in writing or at a meeting. I hope that the Commission will react
positively to the steps that the Panel and the Conference delegates
have taken to respond to the Commission's comments about the lack
of financial services consumer representatives in Europe.
FINAL RESOLUTION FROM CONSUMER GROUPS IN
THE EU CONFERENCE
LONDON 4 NOVEMBER 2005
At a meeting held in London today, representatives
of consumer groups from across the EU, resolved to work for the
following to take place:
1. The Commission to call on Member States
to support consumer groups with knowledge of financial services.
2. The creation of an additional forum organised
and funded by the Commission, consisting only of consumer representatives.
3. The Commission to publicise more widely
to consumer groups, its work plan and road maps.
4. The Commission to create and distribute
to national consumer organisations, consumer relevant summaries
of financial services discussion documents in all EU languages.
This should reduce the demand on the scarce resources of national
consumer groups.
5. A similar more proactive open approach
to obtaining consumer input to be developed by other European
players such as the Lamfalussy Committees.
6. The Commission to collect, on a comprehensive
basis, evidence of how consumers fare in financial markets across
the EU, showing problems and strengths of different approaches.
7. The Commission to increase the money
available to European consumer bodies such as BEUC to strengthen
the resources for financial services work.
The consumer bodies at the conference were:
Financial Services Consumer Panel,
UK;
Cyprus Consumers Association;
Spotrebitelsky poradensky a informacni
Servis, Czech Republic;
Consumers Defence Association, Czech
Republic;
Estonian Consumers Union;
German National Consumer Association;
National Association for Consumer
Protection, Hungary;
Consultative Consumer Panel, Ireland;
Consumer Rights Protection Centre,
Latvia;
LN Consumers Federation, Lithuania;
Consumers Association, Malta;
Consumentenbond, Netherlands;
Associacao Portuguesa para a Defense'
do Consumidor, Portugal ZPS, Slovenia;
BEUC (Bureau European des Consommateurs).
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