The Banco de España is empowered to receive complaints filed by customers (both natural and legal persons) against supervised financial institutions. The complaints should contain specific facts relating to the actions or omissions of the institution concerned. Such actions or omissions must be in breach of transparency and customer protection regulations or good financial practice or custom. They must also undermine the interests or rights of the complainant.
The Banco de España is responsible for assessing whether the institution’s actions have breached:
- Transparency and customer protection regulations, which include specific provisions for institutions, set out contractual obligations, require communication of the basic terms and conditions of transactions and regulate certain aspects of advertising, standards of conduct and information.
- Good practices, which are not mandated by regulation but are reasonably required for responsible, timely and customer-friendly management in financial business.
However, only the courts have jurisdiction to determine the unfairness of contract terms (e.g. costs of setting up the mortgage, floor clauses, arrangement fees), whether or not there have been defects in obtaining consent or the effects of the elimination of any contractual term.