The Assembly requests legal changes for consumer protection against non-bank financial institutions

2024-06-14 08:13:00, Aktualitet CNA

The Assembly requests legal changes for consumer protection against non-bank

The Assembly of Albania will ask the Bank of Albania to draft legal changes that will increase consumer protection in relation to non-bank financial entities.

The draft resolution of the Assembly "On the evaluation of the activity of the Bank of Albania for the year 2023", which also includes the main recommendations for the institution's work during 2024 and beyond, requires engagement in drafting the necessary legal changes, with the assistance of international institutions, for consumer protection in the activity of non-banking financial entities.

In addition, the Assembly also recommends the inclusion in the legal acts of the regulatory changes undertaken by the Bank of Albania, in relation to the establishment of ceilings on loan interest rates or with the penalties accumulated in case of delays in order to keep the costs of the financial intermediary at levels acceptable to borrowers.

According to the draft resolution, the Bank of Albania is requested to analyze the regulatory framework for the licensing of Non-Bank Financial Institutions, with the aim of further strengthening the criteria for licensing these entities, as well as to draft a licensing policy document for banks and non-banks, where elements such as consumer protection, the country of origin of the final owners, experience in the European financial systems of the entities applying for licensing are taken into account.

The Assembly requests that the Bank of Albania further increase cooperation with the Ministry of Justice, the Albanian Association of Banks, the Microfinance Association and other actors of the non-banking financial sector, in order to propose the necessary legal improvements within the framework of solving the problems identified in the field of microfinance.

Also, the Bank of Albania must ensure the improvement of the transparency indicators of all institutions that are licensed by the Bank of Albania, especially Non-Bank Financial Institutions, so that the information reflected by them is complete, in a simple language and easily accessible to consumers, through all communication channels, whether physical or digital.

The draft resolution, among other things, also requires the Bank of Albania to ensure the implementation of Open Banking within the year 2024, as well as the possibility of adding options for money transfers and bank payments in order to reduce costs in each transaction.

In the field of payments, another duty is for the Bank of Albania to take care of the full implementation of the law no. 100/2023 "On the account of payments in basic services", through the approval of all by-laws within the established deadlines as well as public awareness wide, for the benefit of low-cost banking services, and to intensify efforts to carry out electronic payment transactions through credit cards, especially in the tourism sector.

Another important recommendation is the one that asks the central bank to prioritize actions for the country's membership in the Single Euro Payments Market as soon as possible, as an important part of the commitment towards the European integration process, which will bring benefits to the economy. as well as promote the development of the Instant Payment project.

In relation to financial stability, a special recommendation is the one that asks the Bank of Albania to carefully monitor the growing concentration of lending related to the real estate sector, as well as to promote the full implementation by banks of the regulation "On reporting of data, identification and monitoring of indicators on lending and real estate investments"./ Monitor.al