Паст инфо

Financial system conciliator Piruz Sargsyan answers to the questions of “Pastinfo”.

-When was the institute of financial conciliator established and what is the objective pursued?

-The institute of financial conciliator was established by reference to the RA Law on the conciliator of the financial system. It is aimed to protect consumers’ interests. The institution was created according to the EU standards and inclusion of the valuable international experience. Today our office is recognized worldwide. It was the first time in 2012 that we were invited to participate in the annual meeting of international ombudsmen, where our financial conciliator made a speech representing all the projects developed by our office.

-What about being recognized in Armenia?

-In the beginning it was very dramatic. It is not a secret that our population has problems with financial literacy and education. Not only citizens but also financial institutions did not trust us. From the very first day we realized that we have to fight against that in order to achieve recognition. We tried to understand what problems we have and how we can solve them.

Today the situation is much different. People come to us with different problems. Cooperation with financial organizations also helps, since they can redirect citizens to us after understanding their problem.

A program of financial education of consumers was developed in 2011-2012 for 5 target groups: high school pupils, users of financial products, students and youth, aged people, “APPA” insurance participants.

It is planned to introduce medical insurance and education programs about pension’s system in our agenda.

-Who and in which case can apply to the financial conciliator?

-In case the person’s right as a consumer was violated when using financial services.

-Is there an increase in the number of applicants?

-There is 100 % increase of applicants in 2012 in comparison with 2011. It is first of all connected to the increase of awareness of citizens and also by the increase of existing financial organizations.

Our objective is not limited to reconciling the client and the organization. We are not pursuing the objective to punish those financial organizations that have many complaints addressed to by their clients. We rather want to regulate the field, establishing a real dialogue and cooperation between the two sides.

-How can the financial conciliator’s participation be of more help than court’s procedure?

-The financial conciliator appears to be an alternative judicial body and it is free of charge. Moreover, the disputes are solved within 28 business days, whereas the court’s inquiry can last up to three years.

-Have your decisions been appealed?

-No it did not happen. It does not mean however that our clients are always satisfied in the end. It happens sometimes that the financial organization is right and in that case the client’s claim will be rejected. In that case the citizen can file a lawsuit in the court. Even then we follow the court’s procedure and our practice shows that the court usually rejects the claims of the citizens based on the same grounds.

-What about car insurance bureau? In which cases the citizen can apply to the conciliation office and in which cases to the court?

-The cases when citizens can apply to the bureau are defined by the law. The conciliator’s office can also accept requests both from the injured and from guilty drivers.

-How much is the banking system involved in your activities, given that many citizens have problems with it?

-The situation has changed with the incorporation of APPA. Statistics show that in 2011 we had 68 complaints against insurance companies, in 2012 we had 193.

-What future programs do you have?

-We will have a new target group in 2013-2014 to deal with the new system of funded pensions. Also we want to do our best in awareness-raising of the young generation. We received many requests from high schools to continue our awareness-raising programs for financial consumers at schools. We still don’t know whether we can do that, but we do hope that we will be given the chance, since the youth is very much interested in financial education.

We also have projects of enlarging our international cooperation. In the end of October we will go to Bosnia and Herzegovina to share our experience. The RA financial conciliator and the UK Ombudsman will take part in that visit. We used to take examples of such countries as the United Kingdom. Now it is time to share some of our experience, for which we are very proud. We will continue protecting consumers’ interests in future as well.

Interviewed by Lilit Hovhannisyan