31 July 2018

EBA updates the Joint Committee Guidelines on complaints-handling to extend their scope of application

This extension will ensure that an identical set of requirements for complaints-handling continues to apply to all financial institutions across the banking, investment and insurance sectors. This will provide consumers with the same level of protection, irrespective of which regulated product or service they are purchasing and which regulated institution they are purchasing it from.

The JC Guidelines are addressed to authorities competent in their jurisdictions for supervising complaints-handling by firms, which in the banking sector include credit institutions, payment institutions and electronic money institutions, as defined in the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD), the PSD2 and the Electronic Money Directive (EMD) respectively.

The scope of the application of the JC Guidelines will be extended as of 1 May 2019 to the authorities competent for supervising complaints-handling by:

• Payment initiation service providers, which provide only payment initiation services;
• Account information service providers (AISPs) benefiting from an exemption under Article 33 of PSD2, which provide only account information services;
• Credit intermediaries under the MCD;
• Non-credit institution creditors under the MCD.

In the specific case of AISPs, which provide only account information services, but no other payment services, the EBA, in line with related requirements set out in the PSD2, confirmed that the Guidelines will apply only to security-related complaints.

The EBA also clarified that all credit intermediaries should inform consumers about the procedures for submitting a complaint, although competent authorities should consider a general proportionality principle when applying the JC Guideline to credit intermediaries that are sole traders. In relation to the specific case of credit intermediaries that are tied to, or work exclusively for, one creditor, the EBA further clarified that these intermediaries can either handle complaints themselves or rely on the complaints-handling procedure of the creditor.

Press release

Guidelines extension

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