Commerce Commission finance industry seminar June 30
Published29 Jun 1998
The Commerce Commission is delighted with the response of the financial services industry to a compliance seminar the Commission is holding tomorrow afternoon in Wellington.
"This is one of the key industries on which we have been focusing enforcement and education, and we will continue to do so," Commission Fair Trading Manager Rachel Leamy said.
"Financial services are of huge importance to all consumers," Ms Leamy said. "We all use them, whether its hire purchase, insurance, a mortgage or any of the many other services available.
"Also, significant changes to the law covering repossession are about to take effect. These will be explained by Ministry of Consumer Affairs General Manager Keith Manch."
The key issue for the Commission is that consumers are given accurate and complete information about financial services so they can make informed choices about which services they wish to use.
This is of obvious importance to individual consumers, but it is of even greater importance to the country as a whole. The total amount of money in mortgages, insurances, hire purchase and other financial agreements is huge. It is of great importance to New Zealand that the financial services industry is not distorted by false or misleading information.
Specific issues that have arisen include using small print to make substantial changes to, and at times even contradict, the claims made in bold print, not disclosing extra costs and misleading descriptions of conditions.
"Our experience is that businesses do not want to break the law and when they are better informed about it, then compliance is better and consumers get better service," Ms Leamy said.
"More than 100 people have registered for the seminar and we're delighted that there will be excellent representation from right across the board - banks, insurance companies, organisations selling a wide range of securities, brokers and providers of hire purchase and other retail services."
