You have the right to complain if you are not happy about a financial product or service you buy from a firm authorised by a national regulator in the European Union (EU).
Without prejudice to your right of access to the judicial system, firms are required to have procedures in place to deal with your complaint. Some problems are straightforward and quick to solve. Others may be more complicated and, depending on the type of complaint, may take longer to evaluate.
The best way to get your problem resolved is to follow three simple steps.
You should contact the firm that sold you the product. This could be a financial institution, a broker or another type of financial advisor.
You can phone them, write to them or visit their office, whatever suits you best.
If you do not know the name of the person to contact, get in touch with the customer helpline or complaints department (often called Customer services or Customer relations). Keep a record of the person to whom you spoke, and the time of the conversation.
If you are not satisfied with the answer the firm gives you at the first step, you can file a formal complaint. Ask for details of the firm’s complaints procedure.
Remember: EU law requires firms to have effective and transparent procedures for the reasonable and prompt handling of complaints received from their clients.
If the firm does not resolve the problem to your satisfaction, you may be able to refer your complaint to an independent complaints scheme (see Step 3).
If you are not satisfied with the reply from the bank’s or investment firm’s complaints service, contact a financial ombudsman service, also called arbitration or mediation schemes. They can usually consider your complaint only after you have raised the matter with the firm and given them the chance to put things right.
Remember: According to EU law you should have access to simple, effective and low-cost out-of-court ways to resolve disputes with your service provider. These are known as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) entities. They should respond to your complaint within 90 days.
Please refer to Directive 2013/11/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on alternative dispute resolution for consumer disputes for more details
If the financial services firm in question is registered in another EU Member State, you might be covered by an out-of-court complaint scheme situated in the home country of the firm.
The financial dispute resolution network of national out-of-court complaint schemes in the European Economic Area countries (FIN-NET) was designed to help consumers overcome barriers that can result from cross-border transactions.
Their website allows the consumer to identify the relevant out-of-court complaint scheme in the country of the financial services provider and contact that body directly. FIN-NET schemes also give consumers the possibility to make their cross-border complaints in the language of their financial contract, or in the language in which they have normally dealt with their financial services provider.
If you wish to complain about a national competent authority, please visit the Breach of Union law section.
If you wish to make a complaint about a Benchmark Administrator, please visit the dedicated section.
If you wish to make a complaint about a credit rating agency, please visit the Credit Ratings Agencies section.
If you wish to make a complaint about a trade repository, please visit the Trade Repository section.
If you wish to make a complaint about a securitisation repository, please visit the Securitisation Repository section.
If you wish to report an infringement of national provisions transposing the UCITS Directive, please see the Whistleblower section.