The CNMV has made public the Annual Report on Investors’ Complaints and Enquiries for 2017

The Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) has recently made public the Annual Report on Investors’ Complaints and Enquiries for 2017. This report covers the activity carried out by the supervisor in resolving claims and complaints from investors about the entities and products with which they operate, and in dealing with doubts and enquiries in general.

Complaints

In 2017, investors filed 998 complaints with CNMV, 17.18% fewer than in the previous year. Of these, 95% were submitted by natural persons and only 5% by legal persons. As for the origin of those affected, Madrid leads the ranking (223), followed by Catalonia (125), Andalusia (116), and the Valencian Community (108).

The main reason for complaints was problems arising from the information provided on financial products both before (20.3%) and after (21.7% of the total) they were purchased.

The entities that received the greatest number of complaints were banks, with 84.9% of the total, which can be explained by taking into account the relative weight of these entities in the channelling of savings in Spain. Foreign credit institutions received 4.6% of the complaints.

2% of the complaints were made to investment firms (IFs) – 1.4% to securities firms and 0.6% to securities agencies – while Spanish collective investment scheme management companies accounted for 0.7%. For their part, 5.3% were complaints related to services provided by foreign investment firms.

With respect to the final result of the processing of complaints, 83.7% were closed with a final reasoned report. Of these, 54.2% were favourable for the complainant, while the remaining 45.8% were unfavourable.

It should be noted that the percentage of cases in which the favourable report means that the entities accepted CNMV’s criteria or rectified their actions continued to increase. Thus, in 2017 the supervisor’s criteria were adhered to in 58.3% of cases, 13 percentage points more than in 2016, a figure which is four times the number of acceptances recorded in 2013.

Investor enquiries

In 2017, investors submitted 11,199 enquiries to CNMV in relation to the securities markets and how they function, which represents a 28.32% increase on the previous year. Once again, the channel most frequently used to contact the agency was the Investor Assistance Office telephone number (88.5%), followed by the electronic office (8%) and ordinary mail or submission of enquiries through the general registry (3.6%).

The main matters subject to consultation were issues related to the resolution of Banco Popular Español, S.A. in June 2017; requests for information on the purchase prices of securities listed on the stock exchange; issues relating to Abengoa, S.A., and queries related to the obligation to have the LEI (Legal Entity Identifier) Code, among others.

Unauthorised entities

One of the new features of this year’s report is the inclusion of actions and data on unregistered entities that have been the subject of a warning by CNMV, the publication of “other warnings” on other types of entities, as well as other activities carried out by the body.

In 2017, a total of 500 warnings were issued about unregistered entities, known as financial boiler rooms (5% more than in 2016). Of these, 53 were issued by CNMV and 447 corresponded to communications from other supervisory bodies of other EU member states.

In order to carry out these warnings, CNMV obtains information from various sources: measures adopted by CNMV itself, sources external to CNMV and investor enquiries. From the information obtained through these channels, CNMV launched 83 inquiries in 2017 that gave rise to warnings on 53 websites and trademarks, as well as natural and legal persons associated with them.

CNMV’s action criteria

For the second consecutive year, the Report includes the criteria followed by CNMV to resolve complaints. These criteria refer to the analysis of the adaptation of the product to the customer’s investor profile in cases of mere order execution, the provision of advisory services and portfolio management, information on the product to be provided before and after purchasing, the execution of orders and wills, fees, ownership of securities and the operation of the Customer Service Department (CSD).