Comparative Study On Legal System Of Financial Consumer Protection

The worldwide financial crisis has extremely damaged the financial consumer’s interests, which made countries to realize the significance of consumer protection in maintaining confidence and stability of the financial market. Many countries have considered the protection of financial consumer rights as the core of financial regulatory reform. With the deepening of Chinese financial system reform and the rapid development of financial industry, the financial products and financial services have become a part of people’s daily life. Furthermore, as the financial consumer group ceaselessly expands, the infringement of financial consumer rights has surfaced and shown a rapidly increasing trend due to the lack of relevant laws in financial consumer protection.This dissertation focuses on the topic of financial consumer protection (FCP for short), conducted systematic research in some important FCP issues in main developed countries with comparative and empirical analysis, and at the end, puts forward the suggestions of building chinese FCP legal system in an integrated, comprehensive, and phase-in way.This dissertation consists of introduction, body and conclusion. The body is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 analyzes the basic questions in financial consumer protection, which is the fundamental part of the dissertation. It defines the concept of financial consumer, and demonstrates the theoretical foundations and basic principles of financial consumer protection.Chapter 2 introduces the FCP legislation evolutions in major countries. It compares the historical developments and the latest regulatory reform of US, UK and Japan in FCP legislation, discusses the relationship among financial consumer protection, financial regulation and national conditions, and thus summarizes the development path and direction of FCP.Chapter 3 makes a comparative study on the main rights of financial consumer. This chapter presents 8 basic rights but focuses on the right to be informed, the right to choose, the right to financial privacy, and the right to education, which are illustrated and compared with the relevant laws and regulations of US, UK and Japan.Chapter 4 makes a comparative study on financial consumer redress mechanism, which includes the dispute resolution arrangements and the financial consumer compensation schemes. It mainly discusses the experience of modern countries in the financial consumer alternative dispute resolutions, the group litigation, test case, small claims of civil procedure, and the financial consumer redress schemes.Chapter 5 discusses the problems of financial consumer protection in China. First, it introduces the historical development and the current situation of Chinese financial consumer protection. Second, it elaborates the problems existing in the protecting process. Last but not least, it puts forward the suggestions on how to build up Chinese financial consumer protection system at present and in the future.