The National Assembly has adopted amendments submitted by the Government which are necessary for setting up the post of a financial ombudsman as an independent legal entity.
Recently the Government has introduced several measures aimed at protecting consumers in the field of financial affairs, but consumer complaints regarding financial service providers have still been frequent. Therefore supervision of financial service providers shall be closer, knowledge about financial services deeper and consumer awareness shall be increased.
Along with the typical tasks of an ombudsman, such as providing legal help and advice, the financial ombudsman shall be assigned a crucial role in general financial education and spreading knowledge on financial issues which help consumers. The position of financial ombudsman will be an independent, impartial institution. As a consequence, three major institutions will constitute a more powerful and comprehensive system of financial consumer protection: in addition to the new institution the Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority (PSZÁF) and the Financial Arbitration Board (PBT).
By fortifying this system the Government expects that interests of those utilizing services of financial service providers will be more potently safeguarded, knowledge on financial and consumer rights will be improved and these factors as a whole will contribute to greater stability of the financial system.
(Ministry for National Economy)
