Financial intermediation can be performed by certain types of financial agents or financial brokers in selected European countries. Using primarily analysis and the comparison, the authors focus on certain legal aspects of distribution of financial services in selected Member States of the EU and the EEA, providing a comparative legal analysis. In Slovakia, it is being focused on the subordinate financial agent. The subordinate financial agent is an entrepreneur entitled to perform financial intermediation. The subordinate financial agent belongs under the delegated supervision of the independent financial agent. The paper deals with a consideration de lege ferenda, a change to the relevant legislation according to which the subordinate financial agents could belong to the supervised financial market entities. The authors provide pros and cons regarding the direct supervision of this entity realized by the National Bank of Slovakia. The paper is being prepared by using analysis, synthesis, the inductive method, the deductive method, and the comparative method. When regulating distribution of financial services on the European level, the Insurance Distribution Directive had played a key role. Mainly due to protection of financial consumers, the subordinate financial agent should belong under the direct supervision of the National Bank of Slovakia.
Financial advisory means providing advice concerning various financial products such as loans, insurance and investments. The commercial investment advisor and the financial advisor develop individual analyses and concepts for their clients, in the sense of a comprehensive financial planning, about the type, construction, protection, maintenance, retention and possible uses of assets and financing. They respond to the special needs of their customers. Despite these common elements, there exist important distinctions in the regulation of the commercial investment advisor in Austria and of the financial advisor in Slovakia.
The activities of financial agents deserve our attention as we can currently observe their growing share on the intermediation of financial services. The quantity of products and services offered by financial market segments requires a continuous education and the monitoring of the current legislation. Financial agents help their clients to find a financial product, which fulfills their specific needs. The client´s decision depends on the extent of the information a financial agent provides to him. The legislator imposes an obligation to act when performing financial intermediation in compliance with the principles of fair business relations, with professional care and in the interest of rights and legitimate interests of a client. However, the legislation does not define these terms. This paper aims to outline and analyze procedures in order to perform financial intermediation in accordance with regulatory requirements. Key wordsfinacial agent, professional care, fair business conduct, acting in accordance with the rights and legitimate interests of the client JEL Classification: K20, K23
The paper discusses the sectoral regulatory framework for distribution (intermediation) of financial services under the EU framework (most notably IDD and Mortgage Credit Directive) and how it is implemented into Slovak integrated (cross-sectoral) regulatory regime for financial intermediation. The notable feature of Slovak regime is that it regulates financial intermediation in all main financial sectors (deposit taking, lending including mortgage and consumer loans, capital markets, insurance, pensions) under common framework. However, the harmonisation through EU law and consequent benefits of the single passport are limited to the distribution of insurance and mortgage loans. The paper further compares the Slovak regime with Czech approach with the aim to investigate potential benefits or risks of the further harmonisation of the regulation of financial intermediation / distribution and also financial advisory across various sectors of the national and wider EU financial market. On one hand, further integration may help creating more sophisticated and complex distribution platforms across the EU benefiting from the single passport. On the other hand, it is questionable whether the Slovak approach can be successfully replicated at the EU level.
Niektorí účastníci finančného trhu (najmä finanční spotrebitelia) nie sú schopní relevantne vyhodnotiť úroveň bezpečnosti hospodárenia subjektov finančného trhu-podnikateľov. Súvisí to s nízkou mierou informovanosti, resp. nepochopením podstaty sofistikovaných finančných produktov, ponúkaných finančnými inštitúciami. Za účelom zmiernenia disproporcií v úrovni informácii, ktorými disponujú klienti a finančné inštitúcie zakotvuje štát v právnych predpisoch ochranu spotrebiteľa na finančnom trhu, ktorá sa odzrkadľuje predovšetkým v diapazóne informačných povinností finančných inštitúcií voči klientom. V praxi majú k lepšiemu pochopeniu zmluvy o poskytnutí finančnej služby prispieť nielen informačné povinnosti, ale aj finančné poradenstvo. Príspevok je zameraný na úvahy a návrhy de lege ferenda vzťahujúce sa na reguláciu finančného poradenstva.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.