Investor confidence is one of the key pieces of financial market gear. The application of new information technologies is favouring, on the one hand, the emergence of increasingly innovative financial products, and on the other, the growth of the provision of services at a distance. These new possibilities for financial marketing justify the adoption of new measures aimed at preserving the confidence of investors in the functioning and capacity of financial markets. In order to ensure that this greater dynamism in the provision of financial services benefits investors, it is necessary for the regulatory legal framework for financial services to provide these customers with an adequate level of protection, which preserve their confidence in the functioning of the markets.

Law 44/2002, of 22 November, of measures to reform the financial system, adopts in its Chapter V a series of protective measures of the clients of financial services. First, it establishes the obligation for financial institutions to address and resolve complaints and complaints that their clients may submit, related to their legally recognized interests and rights. To this end, credit institutions, investment firms and insurance companies must have a department or customer service. In addition, they may appoint a client advocate, who will be responsible for dealing with and resolving the types of complaints to be determined in each case by their operating rules, and which must be an independent entity or expert. Article 48 of Law 35/2003 of 4 November, of institutions of collective investment, extends this treatment to the management companies of collective investment institutions.

Secondly, once the complaint or complaint has been made in advance, and the complaint has not been resolved or the admission has been refused or dismissed, the persons responsible for it will be newly created organs, the Commissioners for the Defence of the Customers of Financial Services, in whose Regulation, approved by Royal Decree 303/2004 of 20 February, is established, in fact, that they will have for object the protection of the rights of the user of services financial, being competent to deal with complaints or complaints that the users of the services provided by: credit institutions, valuation companies and currency exchange establishments authorised to carry out transactions in the sale of foreign banknotes and travellers ' cheques or transfer management in the (a) foreign investment firms and the management companies of collective investment institutions in relation to the investment fund unit-holders and the shareholders of investment companies that have delegated the management to the investment firm; those; and by insurance institutions, except in the case of contracts for large exposures, and the management of pension funds, as well as in relation to the activity of insurance intermediaries in accordance with their specific legislation. The Financial Services Customer Defense Commissioners ' Rules of Procedure enable the Minister of Economy to dictate their development provisions.

For all this, it will be essential for the admission and handling of complaints or complaints to the Commissioner for the Defense of the Customer of the corresponding Financial Services, to prove that they have been formulated before the financial institutions obliged to address and resolve them through a service or equivalent unit responsible for carrying out such a function.

Article 31 of Law 44/2002, of November 22, enables the Minister of Economy to regulate the requirements to be respected by the department or customer service and the client's defender, as well as the procedure to to submit the resolution of the complaints. To this effect, the Law allows the Minister to demand the adoption of appropriate separation measures with respect to the other commercial or operational services of the entities. It also provides for the possibility of administrative verification of the operating regulations or any other characteristics of the service, as well as of requiring the inclusion, in an annual memory of the entities, of a summary with the most notable aspects of the department's performance or customer service and customer support during the appropriate financial year.

In its virtue, according to the State Council, I have:

CHAPTER I

Object and Scope

Article 1. Object.

This Order has the purpose of regulating the requirements and procedures to be met by the departments and services of the customer as well as the client defender of the entities related to Article 2 of the rule.

Article 2. Scope.

1. The following entities will be subject to as soon as this Order is available:

a) credit institutions,

b) investment services companies,

(c) the management companies of collective investment institutions,

d) the insurance entities,

(e) pension fund management entities, with the details set out in the first provision of this Order,

f) insurance brokerage companies,

(g) branches in Spain of the entities listed in the preceding paragraphs with registered office in another State.

The entities referred to in the preceding paragraphs which have been authorised in other Member States of the European Economic Area, when carrying out their activity in Spain under the freedom to provide services, shall be required to comply with the provisions of Articles 3, 9 and 10.3 of this Order.

2. The obligations set out in this Order shall be related to complaints and complaints submitted, directly or through representation, by all natural or legal persons, Spanish or foreign, who fulfil the status of the user. financial services provided by the entities referred to in the preceding paragraph, provided that such complaints and complaints relate to their legally recognised interests and rights, whether arising from the contracts, the rules of transparency and protection of customers or of good practices and financial uses, in particular of the equity principle.

In insurance contracts, you will also have the consideration of financial service users who are harmed.

CHAPTER II

Customer Service and Customer Service and Customer Service and Department Requirements and Duties

Article 3. Duty to address and resolve complaints and complaints.

The entities referred to in Article 2 (1) of this Order (hereinafter the entities) will be obliged to address and resolve complaints and complaints that their clients present to them, related to their legally recognised interests and rights.

Article 4. Organizational structure for the treatment of complaints and complaints.

1. An entity must have a dedicated customer service department or service, which is intended to address and resolve complaints and complaints submitted by its clients.

Entities that are part of the same economic group can have a single customer service department or service for the entire group.

For the purposes of the above paragraph, it is understood that there is a group when the conditions laid down in Article 4 of the Law 24/1988 of 28 July of the stock market are met.

2. An institution may appoint a client advocate, which shall be responsible for dealing with and resolving the types of complaints submitted to its decision in the framework of the operating rules referred to in Article 8 of the Treaty. This Order, as well as promoting compliance with the rules on transparency and protection of customers and good practices and financial uses.

The appointment of the client defender may be made in conjunction with other entities, so that the customer can address and resolve the customer's claims for all of them, in accordance with his or her regulations. operation.

Article 5. Designation of the holder of the department or customer service and the client defender.

1. The holders of the department or customer service and the customer advocate shall be persons with commercial and professional repute, and with adequate knowledge and experience to perform their duties.

Compete commercial and professional honorability in those who have been observing a personal trajectory of respect to the commercial laws or others that regulate the economic activity and the life of the business, as well as the good business and financial practices.

possess adequate knowledge and experience for the purposes set out in this Order, who have performed functions related to the financial activity of the entity or entities concerned.

2. The holders of the department or customer service and the client's defender shall, where appropriate, be appointed by the administrative board or equivalent body of the institution, or the general management of the branch, where appropriate. In the case of the client's advocate, such designation may be, in accordance with the provisions of the statutes of each entity, subsequently ratified by the board or general assembly or equivalent body.

3. The designation of the owner of the department or customer service and, where appropriate, the client's defender, shall be communicated to the Commissioner or Commissioners for the Defense of the Financial Services Client and to the authority or authorities. monitor that they correspond by reason of their activity.

Article 6. Customer service department or service.

1. Institutions shall take the necessary measures to separate the department or customer service from the other commercial or operational services of the organisation, so as to ensure that the latter takes its own decisions concerning the scope of its activity and, likewise, conflicts of interest are avoided.

Without prejudice to the above paragraph, institutions shall take appropriate measures to ensure that the procedures provided for for the transmission of the information required by the department or service of Customer support for other services in the organization, respond to the principles of speed, security, effectiveness and coordination.

2. Institutions shall ensure that their departments or customer services are equipped with the appropriate human, material, technical and organisational means to perform their duties. In particular, they shall take the necessary actions to ensure that the staff at the service of those departments have adequate knowledge of the rules on transparency and protection of financial services customers.

Article 7. Client defender.

1. The client defender shall act independently of the entity and with total autonomy as regards the criteria and guidelines to be applied in the performance of his duties.

2. To this end, the client's defender shall be a person or entity of recognised standing in the legal, economic or financial field, who is not an entity of the entity or entities to which its services are provided.

3. The customer advocate's decisions favourable to the claimant will bind the entity. This linkage will not be an obstacle to the fullness of judicial protection, to the use of other mechanisms of conflict resolution or to administrative protection.

Article 8. Operating Regulation.

1. Each entity or group will approve a Customer Defense Regulation, which will regulate the activity of the customer service department or service, and, where appropriate, the client's defender, as well as the relationships between them.

2. The regulation shall be approved by the administrative board or equivalent body of each entity, and, where appropriate, by the general management of the branch, and may be, in accordance with the provisions of the statutes of each entity, subsequently ratified. by the board or general assembly or equivalent body.

3. The Regulation shall contain at least the following elements:

a) Duration of the command, if any, and refresh capability.

b) Causes of incompatibility, ineligibility, and cessation.

(c) A clear and precise relationship of matters whose knowledge, by reason of the substance, the amount or any other criterion, is attributed to the client defender, if any, with an express indication that those who do not correspond to him will be competence of the department or customer service; if both instances have attributed the knowledge of the same type of claim, it must be specified whether after the decision of the department or the customer service the Claimant can refer to the client's defender as a second instance, without prejudice to the two months to make a final decision for the claimant for the purposes of Article 10.3 of this Order.

d) Deber from all departments and services of the entity to provide the department or service to the customer and the client defender, as many information they request in connection with the exercise of their functions.

e) Deadline for the filing of the claims, from the date the client became aware of the facts causing the complaint or claim, without it being less than two years.

(f) The completion of internal procedures within the entity or group in accordance with the procedure laid down in Chapter III.

g) The others provided for in this Order.

4. It shall be for the body which is legally responsible for the control and inspection powers of the institution concerned to verify, within three months of the submission of the application, that the regulation contains the necessary and which complies with the provisions of the applicable rules.

In particular, this function will be:

(a) In the case of credit institutions, as well as their branches in Spain, the Banco de España, except in the case of savings banks, as well as credit unions of regional competence, in accordance with the provisions of the Article 104 of Law 27/1999 of 16 July of cooperatives, in which case it shall be the responsibility of the competent authority of the Autonomous Community where the registered office of the entity is situated.

b) In the case of investment services companies and management companies of collective investment institutions, as well as their branches in Spain, to the National Securities Market Commission.

(c) In the case of insurance institutions, pension fund management entities, insurance brokerage companies and their branches in Spain, the General Directorate of Insurance and Pension Funds of the Ministry of Economy, except in the case of entities of regional competence, in accordance with Article 69 of Law No 30/1995 of 8 November 1995 on the management and supervision of private insurance, in which case it shall be the responsibility of the competent authority of the Autonomous community where the entity's registered office is located.

In the event that the same regulation applies to all entities in the same group, the verification shall be carried out by the competent authority which, in accordance with the preceding paragraphs, corresponds to the institution. dominant, after reporting by the other competent authorities.

In all cases, the authorities concerned may request a report from the Commissioners which correspond by reason of the entities to which the regulations are applicable.

Article 9. Information duties.

1. The entities shall make available to their clients, in each and every office open to the public, as well as on their websites in the event that the contracts have been concluded by telematic means, the following information:

(a) The existence of a customer service department or service, and, where appropriate, a customer advocate, with indication of their postal and electronic address.

(b) the obligation on the part of the entity to address and resolve complaints and complaints filed by its clients within two months of its filing in the department or customer service or, if applicable, client defender.

c) Reference to the Commissioner or Commissioners for the Defense of the Customer of Financial Services that correspond, with specification of their postal and electronic address, and of the need to exhaust the route of the department or service customer or customer support to be able to make complaints and complaints to them.

d) The operating regulation provided for in the previous article.

e) References to the financial services client transparency and protection regulations.

2. Decisions with the completion of complaints and complaints procedures shall expressly mention the right of the claimant to attend, in the event of disagreement with the outcome of the statement, to the Commissioner for the Defense of the applicable Financial Services Client.

CHAPTER III

Procedure for filing, processing, and resolving complaints and complaints

Article 10. Scope of the procedure.

1. The procedure provided for in this Chapter shall be required in the handling of complaints, the knowledge of which is attributed to the client's defender, in accordance with the provisions of each operating regulation, and provided that they have not been previously resolved by the office or service object of the claim or by the department or customer service.

2. Customers who file complaints and complaints whose knowledge is attributed to the department or customer service, may request, once informed of the effect in accordance with the provisions of the previous article, that they be processed as set out in this chapter.

3. In any case, the departments or services of customer service and, where appropriate, the client's defenders, shall have a period of two months, from the filing to them of the complaint or complaint, to make a statement, The claimant may be able to apply to the Commissioner for the Defense of the Financial Services Customer as appropriate.

Article 11. Form, content and place of filing of complaints and complaints.

1. Complaints and complaints may be lodged, in person or by representation, on paper or by computer, electronic or telematic means, provided that they permit the reading, printing and preservation of the complaints. documents.

The use of computer, electronic or telematic means must comply with the requirements laid down in Law 59/2003 of 19 December of electronic signatures.

2. The procedure shall be initiated by the submission of a document stating:

(a) Name, surname and address of the person concerned and, where appropriate, of the person representing him, duly accredited; number of the national identity document for natural persons and data relating to public records for legal.

b) Reason for the complaint or complaint, with clear specification of the issues on which a pronouncement is requested.

c) Office or offices, department or service where the facts of the complaint or complaint have occurred.

d) That the claimant has no knowledge that the subject matter of the complaint or complaint is being substantiated through an administrative, arbitral or judicial proceeding.

e) Place, date, and signature.

The claimant must provide, in addition to the previous document, the documentary evidence in his or her power that his complaint or complaint is based.

3. Complaints and complaints may be filed with the departments or services of the customer, before the client's defender, if any, in any office open to the public of the entity, as well as in the e-mail address. which each entity will have to enable for this purpose.

Article 12. Admission to processing.

1. Received the complaint or complaint by the entity, in the event that it has not been resolved in favor of the client by the own office or service object of the complaint or claim, it will be referred to the department or service of attention to the client, who, where appropriate in accordance with the rules of procedure, it shall, in turn, send the client's advocate. If the complaint or complaint has been filed with the client's defender not dealing with a matter of its competence, it will be referred by the client to the department or customer service. The claimant must be informed about the competent authority to hear his complaint or complaint.

The above paragraph shall be without prejudice to the calculation of the maximum termination period from the filing of the complaint or complaint in the customer service department or service. or, if applicable, client defender.

In any case, the written receipt must be acknowledged and the filing date shall be recorded for the purposes of the calculation of the time limit.

Received the complaint or complaint by the competent instance for processing, will proceed to the opening of file.

The complaint or complaint will be filed only once by the person concerned, without the need for his or her reiteration to different bodies of the entity.

2. If the identity of the claimant is not sufficiently established, or the facts of the complaint or complaint cannot be clearly established, the signatory shall be required to complete the documentation submitted within 10 days. natural, with a warning that if you do not do so, the complaint or complaint will be filed without further processing.

The time limit used by the claimant to remedy the errors referred to in the preceding paragraph shall not be included in the calculation of the two-month period provided for in Article 10 (3) of this Order.

3. Only the admission to the complaints and complaints may be rejected in the following cases:

(a) When essential data is omitted for non-subsable processing, including assumptions that do not result in the complaint or complaint.

(b) Where they are intended to deal as a complaint or complaint, other remedies or actions whose knowledge falls within the competence of the administrative, arbitral or judicial bodies, or is pending resolution or litigation or the subject has already been resolved in those instances.

(c) Where the facts, reasons and requests in which the matters covered by the complaint or complaint are made do not relate to specific operations or do not comply with the requirements laid down in Article 2 (2) of the Order.

d) When complaints or complaints are made that repeat previous resolved, submitted by the same client in relation to the same facts.

e) When the deadline for the submission of complaints and complaints to be established by the operating regulation has elapsed.

When knowledge of the simultaneous processing of a complaint or complaint and of an administrative, arbitral or judicial proceeding on the same subject matter, you shall refrain from processing the first.

4. Where the complaint or complaint is not admissible, for any of the reasons set out above, the person concerned shall be made clear by a reasoned decision, giving him a period of 10 calendar days to submit his observations. Where the person concerned has answered and the causes of admission are maintained, the final decision taken shall be communicated to him.

Article 13. Processing.

1. Customer service departments or services and customer advocates may be able to obtain in the course of processing the files, both from the claimant and from the various departments and departments of the affected entity, how much data, clarifications, reports, or evidence elements consider relevant to your decision.

2. In the event that the case is known to the client defender, a period of time, the duration of which shall be laid down in the operating rules, shall be provided for the entity concerned to submit its claims.

Article 14. Break-in and withdrawal.

1. If, in the light of the complaint or complaint, the entity rectifies its situation with the claimant to the satisfaction of the latter, it must inform the competent body and justify it, unless the person concerned has given up. In such cases, the complaint or complaint file will be filed without further processing.

2. Interested parties may withdraw their complaints and complaints at any time. Withdrawal shall result in the immediate termination of the proceedings in respect of the relationship with the person concerned. However, the client's advocate may agree to follow it in the context of its role in promoting compliance with the rules on transparency and protection of customers and on good practices and financial uses.

Article 15. Completion and notification.

1. The file must be completed within a maximum period of two months from the date on which the complaint or complaint was filed in the department or customer service or, where appropriate, the client's defender.

2. The decision will always be motivated and will contain clear conclusions on the request made in each complaint or complaint, based on the contractual clauses, the rules of transparency and protection of the applicable customers, as well as the good practices and financial uses.

In the event that the decision is separate from the criteria stated in similar previous files, the reasons for the decision must be provided.

3. The decision shall be notified to the persons concerned within 10 calendar days of their date, in writing or by electronic or electronic means, provided that they permit the reading, printing and preservation of the documents, and satisfy the requirements laid down in Law 59/2003 of 19 December, of electronic signature, as expressly designated by the claimant and, in the absence of such an indication, through the same means in which the complaint or complaint.

Article 16. Relationship with the Commissioners.

1. Entities shall, by means of a person designated for that purpose, attend to the requirements that the Commissioners for the Defense of the Financial Services Customer may carry out in the performance of their duties, within the time limits specified in this Regulation. determine in accordance with the provisions of its Rules of Procedure.

2. The Commissioners and the entities shall adopt the necessary arrangements and shall carry out appropriate action to facilitate the transmission of the data and documents necessary for the performance of their tasks, either by means of a telematic by the use of electronic signature, in accordance with the provisions of article 4 of Law 59/2003, of 19 December, electronic signature, and its implementing regulations.

CHAPTER IV

Annual Report

Article 17. Content.

1. Within the first quarter of each year, customer service departments and services and, where appropriate, customer advocates, shall submit to the administrative board or equivalent body or to the general management of the branch, in their case, an explanatory report on the development of its function during the preceding financial year, which shall have the following minimum content:

a) statistical summary of complaints and complaints addressed, with information on their number, admission to processing and reasons for inadmissibility, reasons and issues raised in complaints and complaints, and amounts and amounts affected,

(b) summary of decisions given, indicating the favourable or unfavourable character of the claimant,

c) general criteria contained in decisions,

d) recommendations or suggestions derived from your experience, with a view to a better achievement of the goals that inform your action.

2. At least one summary of the report will be integrated into the entities ' annual memory.

Additional disposition first. Advocate for participation.

1. The client defender provided for in this Order may assume, where the entity or entities in question so decide, the functions of the defender of the participant referred to in Article 7 of the recast of the Law on the regulation of plans and funds. The pension is approved by the Royal Legislative Decree 1/2002 of 29 November, provided that it meets the requirements laid down therein, and this circumstance must be communicated to the Directorate-General for Insurance and Pension Funds.

2. The procedure for the filing, processing and termination of complaints and complaints regulated in this Order shall apply to those who are present before the advocates of the participation of the individual pension plans referred to in the Law of Regulation of pension plans and funds.

3. Customer support departments and services or client advocates for pension fund management entities will address and resolve complaints and complaints submitted by participants and beneficiaries of the pension fund plans. pensions, the processing of which is not reserved for the rights of the advocate of the participation in the rules of pension schemes and funds.

Additional provision second. Regime applicable to other entities.

1. Pursuant to Articles 1 and 8 of the Regulation of the Commissioners for the Defense of the Customer of Financial Services, approved by Royal Decree 303/2004 of 20 February, the following entities must attend and resolve the complaints and complaints which, in accordance with the requirements of Article 2.2 of this Order, are submitted by their clients, through a service or equivalent unit for the performance of that function:

(a) the valuation companies,

(b) establishments open to the public for the exchange of foreign currency authorised for the sale of foreign banknotes or the management of transfers abroad.

2. The entities listed in the preceding paragraph may designate a client advocate in accordance with the terms set out in Article 4.2, to whom the requirements laid down in Articles 5 and 7 of this Standard shall apply.

In the case referred to in the preceding paragraph, the aforementioned entities will be required to approve a Regulation for the Defense of the Customer, in the terms of Article 8, which will be the subject of verification by the Banco de España, and shall comply with the procedure laid down in Chapter III.

3. The entities referred to in paragraph 1 above shall communicate the designation of the holders of the services or equivalent units for the processing of complaints and complaints from their clients, as well as, where appropriate, their client defender, to the Commissioner for the Defense of Banking Services.

4. Those entities shall be subject to the duties of information referred to in Article 9, as well as to the time limit laid down in Article 10.3 of this Order.

First transient disposition. Files on processing.

The complaints and complaints files that are in the process of the entry into force of this standard, by the departments or customer services or client defenders of the entities of the article 2.1 of this rule, they will continue to be substantiated in accordance with the procedure laid down in the rules previously applicable.

Second transient disposition. Current charges.

People who, prior to the entry into force of this standard, will be understood to have been developing functions equivalent to those provided for in the department or customer service and the client defender, meet the general requirements for the performance of such charges.

Final disposition first. Basic character.

This Order is of a basic nature under the provisions of Article 149.1.11. of the Constitution, which attributes exclusive competence to the State on the basis of the management of credit, banking and insurance.

Final disposition second. Entry into force.

This rule will take effect four months after its publication in the Official State Gazette.

Madrid, 11 March 2004.

HANGING OUT AND FIGAREDO

Excmo. Mr Governor of the Bank of Spain and Ilmos. Mr Chairman of the National Securities Market Commission, Director-General of Insurance and Pension Funds and Director-General of the Treasury and Financial Policy.