China News Service:
As financial products have now entered the lives of millions of families, all sectors of society are paying more and more attention to the protection of the rights and interests of financial consumers. We would like to know what measures the CBIRC had taken to protect the rights and interests of these consumers for the past year? In particular, what achievements have been made in protecting consumers from the infringement of their rights and interests?
Huang Hong:
This question is for Mr. Ma to answer.
Ma Xueping:
The protection of consumers is indeed one of the priorities of the regulator. In 2019, the CBIRC focused on the main consumer pain points and the challenging issues. It adopted special measures, on-site inspections, interview mechanisms and public disclosure to punish and rectify the behavior of banks and insurers that infringed on consumers' rights and interests.
First, we opened channels for complaints and placed great importance on the demands of the public. In the past year, the regulator directly received 31,300 complaint cases related to the banking and insurance industries, which marked a year-on-year increase of 69%. We have carefully dealt with every complaint and replied to consumers promptly.
Second, we conducted targeted inspections and interviews. Last year, we carried on-site inspections that were closely related to consumer rights, such as fees, the credit and consignment business, financial services, sales compliance, and the authenticity of customer information. Such supervision was carried out during the whole process of bank and insurance operations. At the same time, in accordance with the principles of early warning, early identification, and early disposal, we made inquiries with 63 institutions to discuss the hidden risks we uncovered during our inspections. We also urged financial groups to establish and improve their consumer protection systems and mechanisms, and enhance their consumer protection management levels.
Third, we increased the level of public disclosure. In response to social concerns, and to give full play to the role of public supervision, we released reports on consumer complaints every quarter, and urged institutions to strengthen control over their businesses and take responsibility for handling complaints. We even published five cases of infringement to deter bad actors in the industry. We also carried out risk warnings based on the cases, and improved public awareness on risk prevention and self-protection.
Fourth, we cracked down on infringements on the rights and interests of consumers. Last year we launched a three-month-long campaign to focus on the key areas where consumer rights had been infringed on over the years. By the end of last year, all banks and insurance institutions had completed their self-inspections. We carried out spot checks on 2,096 banking and insurance institutions, including more than 50,000 branches. We urged these institutions to revise 2,520 items, and some relevant personnel were also held accountable.
In general, last year, through the rectification of the chaos that infringed on consumers' rights and interests, special campaigns to tackle the problem of ignoring the interests of the public , on-site inspections and supervision on how consumers' complaints were addressed, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission urged banks and insurance institutions to check and pay consumers 4.09 billion yuan in refund and compensation. This has helped improve the people's sense of gain.
I will report on this year's work plan. This year, we will continue to strengthen the supervision of consumer protection as a continuation of our work last year. First, we will establish rules and regulations and systems to urge institutions to fulfill their main responsibilities and to improve the consumer rights protection system and mechanism. Second, we will introduce a consumer protection supervision evaluation system, which is an innovative approach to supervision, to carry out the multi-dimensional evaluation of consumer protection work by the institutions. Third, we will promote the development of a multi-resolution mechanism for financial disputes, and provide people with multiple and efficient channels for resolving complaints and disputes. Fourth, we will continue to promote the follow-up rectification of problems found in the rectification of irregularities concerning consumer protection, and urge all institutions to analyze the existing problems, find the root causes of the problems, tackle areas of weaknesses, improve the governance system, and establish a long-term effective mechanism, so as to ensure that illegal behaviors which violate consumer rights and interests are curbed.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to talk about the issues related to financial consumer education. As a regulatory authority, we have helped consumers acquire financial knowledge and improve their financial literacy through various financial knowledge education activities. At the same time, we also hope that the financial consumers can actively learn and acquire financial knowledge, learn to examine and evaluate their own ability to bear risks, establish a sense of risk, and cultivate their habits around rational consumption and investment. Thank you.
