Building a New Financial Consumer Protection Framework

The protection of financial consumers' rights has always been a key topic in financial regulation. In September of this year, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the People's Bank of China, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission jointly launched the "Financial Education Publicity Month" for 2024, achieving positive results.

Experts point out that with the increasing richness of financial products and services, the demands of financial consumers are growing, and protecting their legitimate rights and interests faces unprecedented challenges. By improving the relevant work systems and mechanisms, China is accelerating the construction of a "big consumer protection" pattern centered on "protecting consumer rights."

The "big consumer protection" pattern is initially taking shape

This year has been called the "big year for consumer protection" in the industry. At the legal level, the "Consumer Rights Protection Law of the People's Republic of China" has been implemented for 30 years, and the first administrative regulation to accompany it, the "Implementation Regulations of the Consumer Rights Protection Law of the People's Republic of China," has been officially implemented. In the financial field, in June of this year, the Financial Regulatory Administration, the People's Bank of China, and the Securities Regulatory Commission jointly issued the "Notice on the Arrangement of Financial Consumer Rights Protection Work," marking the official entry of China's financial consumer rights protection work into the "big consumer protection" era.

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Looking back at 2023, financial consumer rights protection work has undergone significant changes. With the implementation of the "Party and State Institutional Reform Plan," financial regulatory functions have been significantly adjusted. The financial consumer protection functions originally scattered in multiple departments have been re-integrated to form a unified financial consumer and investor protection framework system. This reform has promoted the acceleration of the "big consumer protection" pattern and significantly improved the overall effectiveness of China's financial consumer protection work.

Yin Zhentao, director of the Financial Technology Office of the Financial Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the construction of the "big consumer protection" pattern signifies that regulatory agencies are gradually forming a unified and coordinated protection system in top-level design, effectively solving the previous problems of inconsistent rules and dispersed regulatory efforts across departments. The establishment of this mechanism can effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of different types of financial consumers and further enhance the level of information and fund security protection in the digital finance era.

Under policy promotion, various financial institutions have actively responded and introduced innovative measures. Reporters learned that during the "Financial Education Publicity Month," Dinghe Insurance carried out the "Consumer Protection County Line" activity, delivering financial knowledge to the fields through forms such as "Financial Knowledge Fair." It helps villagers better understand the basic rights of financial consumers and focuses on preaching risk prevention knowledge such as anti-financial fraud and illegal fundraising. Tencent Micro Insurance adopted an "online + offline" model during the "Financial Education Publicity Month." Offline, Tencent Micro Insurance focused on college students and carried out the "Anti-Fraud and Refusal to Gamble Campus Line" activity at Shenzhen University, popularizing financial risk prevention knowledge through offline lectures and interactive answering forms. Online, Tencent Micro Insurance promoted anti-fraud skills and typical case analysis through channels such as WeChat public accounts and Weibo, further expanding the dissemination range and influence of financial knowledge.

Combining self-discipline with external discipline

With the gradual improvement of the "big consumer protection" pattern, the main responsibility of financial institutions has also been further strengthened. Zhou Liang, deputy director of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, said that the improvement of financial consumer protection work cannot rely solely on the promotion of regulatory departments, and it is more necessary for financial institutions to be self-disciplined and actively participate. On the basis of the compliant operation of financial institutions, consumer rights protection should be gradually included in the performance evaluation system to ensure that consumer protection becomes an important part of the overall business development strategy of financial institutions.

The "Insurance Industry Consumer Rights Protection Self-Discipline Convention" (hereinafter referred to as the "Self-Discipline Convention") sponsored by the China Insurance Industry Association was recently held in Beijing. The "Self-Discipline Convention" mentioned that insurance institutions should bear the main responsibility of protecting the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, include consumer rights protection in corporate governance, corporate culture construction, and business development strategy, establish and improve the consumer rights protection work system and mechanism, fully respect and consciously protect the property safety rights, the right to know, and other basic rights of insurance consumers, and treat consumers fairly, justly, and honestly throughout the entire business process.The Party Secretary and President of the China Insurance Industry Association, Yu Hua, stated that the "Self-Disciplinary Convention" encourages and advocates for insurance institutions to actively assume the social responsibilities they are obliged to fulfill as operating entities. It fully leverages the long-term stable risk management and protection functions of insurance to jointly maintain a good market order. The release of the "Self-Disciplinary Convention" will undoubtedly contribute to the consumer rights protection work in the insurance industry, injecting new vitality.

Within the insurance industry, Sunshine Life and Sunshine Property Insurance had already held the "7·8 National Insurance Publicity Day" event in July of this year. Sunshine Life, through the "Insurance into Five" campaign, brought financial insurance knowledge into schools, rural areas, communities, government agencies, and enterprises, enhancing consumer satisfaction and sense of gain. Sunshine Property Insurance also expanded the dissemination of financial knowledge through short video broadcasts and live interviews, and actively promoted risk reduction services to help consumers understand the importance of insurance and its value in risk prevention and control. Taiping Life, through its national service improvement plan, combined elderly-friendly services with intelligent outlets to comprehensively improve service quality. At the Kunming Chengdong branch of Taiping Life, staff set up a "green service window" specifically for the elderly customer group.

In addition to the insurance industry, the banking industry is also actively exploring new paths for high-quality development in financial consumer protection work. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), through online and offline integration and internal and external collaboration, coordinated with other institutions to popularize knowledge on financial fraud prevention and self-rights protection, helping citizens enhance financial security awareness and safeguard their "pockets of money"; China Post Savings Bank focused on shifting the focus of financial education downward, carrying out a series of activities such as "Taking on New Missions, Consumer Protection in Counties," "Financial Knowledge into Rural Areas - You Are My Companion," and "Branch Manager Talks About Consumer Protection - Let Me Explain."

Enhancing Consumer Sense of Gain

In recent years, with the continuous strengthening of financial consumer rights protection efforts in China, consumers' awareness of rights protection in terms of fund security, information protection, and contract interest protection has significantly improved.

At the launch ceremony of the "Financial Education Publicity Month" in 2024, Tao Ling, Deputy Governor of the People's Bank of China, stated that the popularization of financial education helps the people to "learn about finance, understand finance, and trust finance." On this basis, they can better "use finance," allowing financial policies to truly enter thousands of households, integrate into all aspects of social life, and serve the improvement of people's livelihoods and economic and social development. Moreover, financial education helps to enhance the risk awareness of the people, improve their ability to identify and stay away from illegal financial activities, and thus better protect their legitimate rights and interests.

Journalists learned through interviews that in response to weak areas of financial services, financial institutions have also explored some innovative methods. China Pacific Life Insurance organized the "100 People, 100 Fields, Consumer Protection Pioneer Team into Rural Areas" activity during the "Financial Education Publicity Month," conducting financial consumer education and publicity in rural areas. The activity used vivid case studies to preach the basic rights of financial consumers and anti-fraud knowledge, helping villagers enhance their financial prevention awareness, which is conducive to solving the difficulties faced by rural financial consumers in obtaining financial knowledge and understanding complex financial products. Taikang Life, relying on health and wealth centers across the country, designated "Consumer Rights Protection Financial Education Bases" and launched a series of financial knowledge popularization activities aimed at rural areas.

Zeng Gang, Director of the Shanghai Finance and Development Laboratory, believes that financial consumer protection work is not just one-way protection. Only by enhancing consumers' experience in financial activities can we truly strengthen trust in financial institutions and confidence in the financial market.

Yin Zhentao stated that as China's financial consumer rights protection work moves towards high efficiency, standardization, and transparency, the financial consumer protection mechanism will become more mature and perfect through improving legislation, strengthening supervision, enhancing institutional responsibility, and smoothing rights protection channels.