Optimize financial services with a people-centered approach

Editor's note:

In order to firmly establish the "people-centered" development philosophy, continue to promote the protection of consumer rights and interests in the banking and insurance industries, and guide banking and insurance institutions to improve service quality and To improve service efficiency, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission has officially launched the "3·15" consumer rights protection education and publicity week in the banking and insurance industries in 2019. The unified slogan is "consumer-centered optimization of services", aiming to guide bank insurance Institutions strengthen service awareness, standardize market order, pay attention to service quality and efficiency; enhance consumers' cognitive ability of financial products and services, guide consumers to safeguard their rights in accordance with the law and rationally, and optimize the financial ecological environment to better meet the growing needs of the people needs for a better life.

As "March 15" approaches, "China Banking and Insurance News" plans to launch a special issue to introduce and remind you from the perspectives of preventing illegal fund-raising, improving the age-appropriateness of financial services, and guarding against excessive consumption. , guide financial consumers to use financial services correctly and understand their own rights and interests; advocate rational consumption concepts, cultivate a good financial consumption ecological environment, and enhance financial consumers' sense of gain.

Keep risk prevention in mind when investing

Reporter Fang Wenbin

Stay away from illegal fund-raising in rational investment

In recent years, "ezubao" Major illegal fund-raising criminal cases such as "Qian Bao" and "Pan Asia" have broken out one after another. Especially since 2018, the P2P online lending platform has been exposed continuously, causing huge property losses to investors. Many people's hard-earned money has been "wasted". ".

"Too few investment channels is the reason why many people choose P2P." Yao Jinwei, a lecturer at the School of Economics and Finance at the School of International Relations, told the China Banking and Insurance News.

In order to prevent and deal with illegal fund-raising and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the public, the State Council promulgated the "Regulations on Preventing and Dealing with Illegal Fund-raising" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"), which will come into effect on May 1, 2021.

Cai Cai, a representative of the 13th National People's Congress and president of the Tianjin Lawyers Association, said that the "Regulations" have adjusted the management of illegal fund-raising from "pursuing and intercepting" to a combination of "draining" and "blocking", and have improved the prevention and handling of illegal fund-raising. The formation of an illegal fund-raising governance system has a very positive effect.

“On the surface, illegal fund-raising is an illegal act in the financial field and disrupts the market operation order of banking financial institutions to absorb deposits. However, in practice, the proportion of illegal fund-raising for the purpose of normal operations is increasing. At the same time, the disguise of illegal fund-raising is becoming more and more fancy, the packaging is becoming more and more complex, and the concealment is increasing, which requires that the risk of illegal fund-raising must be dealt with in a consistent manner. 'Early detection, early identification, early warning, early disposal'" Cai Cai reminds the general public that illegal fund-raising is not protected by law. It is important to remember that "if the rate of return exceeds 6%, there will be a question mark, and if it exceeds 8%, it will be very dangerous." Stay away. Illegal fundraising.

On November 27, 2020, Liu Fushou, chief lawyer of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, announced at the "Financial Annual Conference 2021: Forecast and Strategy" that Internet financial risks have dropped significantly, and P2P online loans actually operated across the country. The number of institutions increased from about 5,000 at the peak to zero in mid-November 2020.

Although all P2P online lending institutions have been cleared, it does not mean that illegal fund-raising cases can be completely eliminated. New risks such as "counterfeit banks" still cannot be ignored. Zhang Zhong, a lawyer at Beijing Commerce Law Firm, said that "counterfeit banks" refer to the fact that individual companies have the same decoration, layout, organizational structure and personnel names as banks, causing ordinary people to mistakenly think that they are banks and establish a contractual relationship with them, resulting in property losses. loss. As an ordinary consumer, how to avoid being fooled by "fake banks" is a comprehensive issue. In addition to the government strengthening supervision, consumers should establish rational investment and value concepts to effectively avoid risks.

There are currently many investment channels, such as stocks, funds, bonds, precious metals, and bank deposits. Zhang Zhong believes that rational consumers should invest in products that match their level of knowledge and understanding of investment products, and should not invest funds in areas with which they are unfamiliar.

Create an atmosphere of rational rights protection in accordance with the law

The famous German jurist Yelin wrote in "Struggle for Rights" that fighting for rights is everyone's sacred obligation.

In real life, you need to pay attention to methods to protect your rights. It is not advisable to adopt irrational methods. In particular, you should not use violence to oppose injustice. Not only will the problem not be solved, but you will also be vulnerable to it. So pay a huge price.

Only by safeguarding rights reasonably and in accordance with the law will it be more conducive to promoting the solution of the problem. For example, regulators have repeatedly reminded insurance consumers that if disputes arise during the purchase of financial products or services, they can directly complain to financial institutions through formal channels, claim civil rights, and reasonably defend their rights in accordance with the law.

How to safeguard rights reasonably in accordance with the law? Zhang Zhong believes that when consumers receive "good" information such as "agency surrender", "full surrender", "returning the old and buying a new one is more cost-effective", they should consult trustworthy professionals, such as insurance company customer service, etc. , don’t make a rash decision just by listening to the salesperson’s boasts. When consumers' rights are infringed, they should consult and seek help from the competent authorities (such as the Market Supervision Administration, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, etc.) or consumer associations in a timely manner. This can effectively prevent the expansion of losses and recover part of the losses. At the same time, he also recommended that consumers learn some legal knowledge or seek help from professionals in legal and related fields to better improve their awareness and ability to protect their rights.

In addition, Yao Jinwei believes that financial investment education should be used to expand consumers’ awareness of legal and rational rights protection and improve their ability to protect their rights. In particular, consumers should fully understand the composition and functions of the financial regulatory system and clearly understand their rights protection. Legal channels and means, understand relevant financial consumer protection policies, and achieve "knowledge of rights protection, ability to protect rights, know how to protect rights, and good rights protection". Financial consumers must take the initiative to strengthen the study of financial knowledge and policies and overcome the speculative mentality of blindly following the trend.

"Wait a moment" for the elderly

Reporter Hu Yang

Slightly "esoteric" financial products and increasingly smart financial services are becoming more and more popular. Plaguing the elderly group, the "digital divide" hinders the elderly from adapting to and integrating into the smart society, greatly reducing the elderly's sense of gain, happiness, and security in the development of information technology.

How to better meet the financial needs of the elderly? Under the guidance of regulatory authorities, various financial institutions are actively thinking.

Promote financial services suitable for aging

Research results from the Ningbo Financial Consumer Rights Protection Association show that at this stage, manual services are still the first choice for banking services for the elderly in my country, and their support for digitalization Demand and acceptance of financial services are low. Taking Ningbo as an example, as a new first-tier city with a developed economy, only 55% of the local elderly have opened mobile banking.

According to the analysis of Hu Xunliang from the Sales Department of China Construction Bank Hubei Branch, elderly customers generally reject financial services such as bank electronic channels and self-service channels due to their physical condition and education level, and prefer safe and simple settlement tools. There is a strong dependence on manual service at the counter. At the same time, elderly customers mainly handle savings and financial management services at branches, with savings business accounting for about 70%, of which passbook deposit receipt business accounts for as much as 90%. Objectively, it is difficult to separate self-service channels and electronic channels.

The elderly group is highly dependent on manual services and requires financial institutions to provide patient and thoughtful guidance.

An interview by "China Banking and Insurance News" found that most bank branches in Beijing are equipped with service facilities to facilitate the elderly, such as setting up special service windows, dividing love seats and providing reading glasses, magnifying glasses, medicine kits, etc. , reflecting special care for the elderly.

For smart counters or self-service equipment, most banks also require front-line business personnel to provide comprehensive guidance without touching the privacy of elderly customers, and effectively solve the problems encountered by the elderly in using smart technology. difficulties.

Considering the mobility difficulties of the elderly, some banks are actively exploring door-to-door services. For example, a large state-owned bank uses mobile exhibitions to provide door-to-door financial services for the elderly. It uses tablet computers and other mobile terminals to implement mobile business acceptance, on-site surveys, on-site photography and other information collection work. Through electronic and information-based data, The image circulation method uses the network to connect with the back-end business system to "move" the counter to the customer.

The Beijing branch of a joint-stock bank has launched some financial products specifically for the elderly, such as bank cards that provide additional insurance and dedicated telephone services. Elderly people who call the hotline for consultation can skip the voice navigation and button operation and receive direct service from the dedicated human customer service.

Restricted by the degree of economic development, financial services in rural areas are more arduous and have a long way to go to be "age-appropriate". As the passbook business gradually withdraws from the market, many elderly people do not know the changes in their accounts with only one bank card, which leads to panic. In response to this situation, some rural commercial banks have launched a "deposit reconciliation book" service to help cardholders check the income and expenditure details of their accounts, which not only alleviates the panic of the elderly from discounts to cards, but also prevents certain financial risks.

At the same time, supervision is also strengthening guidance to improve the availability and satisfaction of daily financial services for the elderly. After the General Office of the State Council issued the "Implementation Plan on Effectively Solving the Difficulties in Using Intelligent Technology for the Elderly" in November last year, the central bank immediately made it clear that it would guide financial institutions to focus on the daily high-frequency financial scenarios of the elderly and create online and offline integrated, close-fitting services. “Age-friendly” financial services that meet the needs of the elderly.

Improve the self-protection ability of the elderly

Data show that in recent years, among the victims of illegal fund-raising and financial fraud cases, the proportion of elderly people over 60 years old has reached as high as 70%. Criminals They often use “pretended promotional activities to guide elderly customers to purchase informal channel financial products with falsely high returns”, “in the name of investing in retirement apartments, attract elderly customers to invest in false senior care projects with high yields and high returns”, “under the guise of P2P, Falsely promoting high-yield and low-risk investment projects to attract elderly financial consumers with low risk recognition ability" and other methods to commit fraud.

A study by the Ningbo Financial Consumer Rights Protection Association pointed out that in addition to the lack of awareness of new things, financial institutions lack targeted financial knowledge education for customers, which has also led to the failure of many financial knowledge promotions. Practical translation of knowledge and skills into older adults.

In this regard, the inter-ministerial joint meeting to deal with illegal fund-raising has specifically proposed: Targeting key groups, efforts should be made to increase publicity efforts for the elderly, young students and other groups, and based on the cognitive characteristics and acceptance of different audiences Get used to it and carry out propaganda in a differentiated manner.

"China Banking and Insurance News" noted that some banks have carried out special financial knowledge education activities for the elderly. A major state-owned bank held micro-salons at its branches to introduce the dangers of telecom fraud, money laundering cases, etc., in order to improve the elderly's awareness of illegal financial activities such as telecom fraud, money laundering, and illegal fund-raising, and strive to educate the elderly on financial knowledge. Form a normalization mechanism.

Some insurance companies focus on financial products commonly used by the elderly, and specifically conduct education and publicity on insurance service policies for the elderly. For example, an insurance company has launched "into the community", "into nursing homes" and "into the university for the elderly" " and other activities to popularize relevant financial knowledge.

Young people should not over-consume

Reporter Yu Han

The latest statistics from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) show that as of December 2020, the size of my country’s Internet users reached 989 million, of which teenage Internet users accounted for more than 40%.

Due to the rise of young Internet users, online shopping and consumption continue to usher in new forces, and some financial institutions have sensed business opportunities. Financial products such as consumer installments, student credit cards, and P2P online loans are flooding into campuses, and “campus loans” are becoming popular.

In 2020, the "2019 China Youth Debt Situation Report" released by the authoritative research organization Nielsen showed that 86.6% of young people are using credit products, and half of them have accumulated debt. Among young people, the penetration rate of overall credit products is 86.6%; the average debt-to-income ratio of young people is 41.75%, and only 13.4% of young people have zero debt.

The main cause of excessive debt among young people is excessive consumption and even over-consumption. On December 29 last year, the Consumer Rights Protection Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued a risk warning stating that some online platforms over-market financial products such as loans or credit card-like overdrafts through various online consumption scenarios, inducing young people to consume ahead of schedule and over-consumption. Some institutions even over-lent loans to students who lacked the ability to repay, and forced collection after default, causing a series of social problems.

This year’s National Two Sessions, Chen Haiyi, a representative of the National People’s Congress and the president of the Juvenile Family Tribunal of Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court, disclosed a set of data to the outside world: Since the establishment of the Guangzhou Internet Court in August 2018, *** 113,223 trial and execution cases involving Internet disputes. Among them, the defendants are natural persons and account for nearly half of the cases involving online consumer lending. More than 60% of the cases are defendants under the age of 35, and the number continues to rise. Based on this, Chen Haiyi proposed that a youth online consumer lending prevention and assistance mechanism should be established to prevent and help young people get out of debt difficulties.

According to the person in charge of the Consumer Rights Protection Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, online platforms induce excessive borrowing, first of all, due to improper information disclosure and the risk of misleading sales. When promoting, some institutions or online platforms unilaterally emphasize conditions such as low daily interest rates, interest-free periods, and zero-interest installments. However, the so-called "zero interest" does not mean zero cost. There are often "service fees", "handling fees", "overdue charges", etc. The actual comprehensive annualized interest rate of such products may be very high. Some marketing deliberately obscures the actual cost of borrowing, which can easily lead to misunderstandings or perceptions and infringe on consumers' right to know. Secondly, some online platforms over-package marketing, causing consumers to fall into the trap of blind and unrestrained consumption, which is especially easy to mislead people with weak financial knowledge and teenagers without a stable source of income. Thirdly, some platforms also excessively collect and abuse customer information, posing risks of improper use and leakage of personal information.

In this regard, the Consumer Rights Protection Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission reminds consumers to establish a rational consumption concept of living within their means and stay away from the trap of excessive borrowing and consumption marketing.

It is worth mentioning that due to the popularity of campus loan products, "routine loan" cases targeting young people have also occurred frequently. On October 26 last year, the China Consumers Association issued a warning to remind college students to be wary of bad "campus loans", especially scams in the name of "cancellation of campus loans", "entrepreneurship loans" and "training loans". At the same time, college students are reminded to establish a correct concept of consumption and avoid excessive consumption and premature consumption.

At this year’s Two Sessions, Li Jun, a deputy to the National People’s Congress and secretary of the Party branch of Xiuyun Village, Baiyi Town, Cangxi County, Sichuan Province, proposed to increase the supervision and rectification of online loans and proposed a ban on credit cards for school students. and provide installment and other related advanced consumption financial services. He believes that students have no ability to repay and excessive consumption will undoubtedly bring huge risks to families and society and is not conducive to social stability and development.