Unreliable investment advice from AI or “finfluencers” and the promise of fast gains from crypto trading. These are examples of consumer protection risks that have recently emerged on the financial market. At the same time, risks linked to unsound lending and financial exclusion of consumers are still prevalent. These are some of Finansinspektionen’s (FI) observations in this year’s consumer protection report.
Fraud is a major and expanding societal problem that fosters organised crime. FI supervises that payment service providers follow the provisions set out in the Payment Services Act that aim to prevent fraud. Payment service providers do a lot to prevent their payments services from being used for fraud, but this problem is still growing.
Right now, the media is filled with reporting on cryptoassets, and various investment tips are being shared on social media. Even though regulations for the cryptomarket are under development, it will continue to be very risky for consumers to invest in crypto. We have listed four reasons not to invest in them.
Expensive and complex products are unsuitable for most consumers. Despite this, firms offer such products on a broad front. This is one of the consumer risks that FI highlights in this year’s consumer protection report.
Banks restrict consumers’ access to payment accounts more than is necessary to manage money laundering risks. We want to see stricter requirements on banks to make assessments of consumers on an individual basis. Banks should also consider whether they can offer a more limited range of services instead of closing a customer’s account.