China's Financial Legal Protection And Research Of Consumers' Rights And Interests

As the inferior concept of consumer concept,financial consumers are the subdivision of common consumer;that is to say,except for enjoying the rights as common consumers,they also have some special rights such as right to know,privacy right,fair dealing right and right of claim according to law.Although Chinese law has been carrying out the protection of consumers' interests and rights,the protection of financial consumers has just started.With the deepening of financial reform and advancement of financial innovation,it is particularly significant to reinforce legal protection of financial consumers because they are the key component of financial market.The improper protection of financial consumers' rights and interests is one of the causes of global financial crisis.Meanwhile,financial consumer protection has its theoretical basis: firstly,the “adverse selection” and “moral hazard” triggered by information asymmetry in financial field will impede the effective and reasonable allocation of financial resources,reduce allocation efficiency and obstruct stable development of financial market.Secondly,Chinese regulatory authority is inclined to the prudential supervision of financial institution,which means that,when financial institution conflicts with financial consumers' rights and interests,their legal rights and interests usually fail to cause emphasis.In addition,there are disadvantages in the model contract applied by financial transaction.Financial institution definitely provides model contract on the premise of striving to realize its profit maximization;thus,the improper formulation or use of model contract could damage financial consumers' rights and interests.The practice of protecting financial consumers' rights and interests in China at present also contains the following problems: firstly is unsound legal system of protecting financial consumers' rights and interests,including low legislative level,poor specialty,independence and authority,weak operability of legislation content,and insufficient emphasis on the relief of financial consumers' rights and interests.Secondly is that,the dispute of financial consumption lacks effective settlement mechanism;it specifically manifests as failure in exerting effects of negotiation and reconciliation between consumers and operators,appeal to consumers' association or other organizations for mediation,complaint to relevant administrative departments,submission to arbitration,and initiation of legal proceedings.Thirdly is the insufficient of financial consumption administrative supervision;setting of supervision institution and goal remain to be perfected;fourthly the education on financial consumers needs to be reinforced;including financial consumers' education degree,especially legal education is not enough,which does not carry accurate judgment faced with financial products and services.All these problems make it difficult to protect financial consumers' rights and interests,and influence the stable development of financial industry.Therefore,it is necessary to pay close attention to the legal protection of financial consumers' rights and interests.According to the comparison with foreign countries' excellent experience in protecting financial consumers,it is available to perfect legal protector of financial consumers' rights and interests in China from the following perspectives: improving the legislation of protecting financial consumers' rights and interests via transforming legislation idea,implementing legislation principle and perfecting law system;reinforcing the supervision of protecting financial consumers by starting with defining supervision goal and establishing exclusive protection institution;constructing multiple and effect dispute settlement mechanisms;cultivating reasonable as well as reasonable financial consumers.