The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) has published its annual report for 2015. The presentation of the annual report focused particularly on the results after five years of the FSMA's existence, the inspections and mystery shopping campaigns carried out and the sanctions policy.
The 2015 annual report provides explanations concerning the FSMA's activities within each of its fields of competence. These fields are: supervision of information disseminated by companies, product supervision, supervision of compliance with the conduct of business rules, supervision of market operators, credit providers and intermediaries, supervision of supplementary pensions, and financial education.
The presentation of the annual report provided the opportunity to look back over the first five years of the FSMA's existence. During this period, various initiatives were taken that have brought about change on the ground. Thus, financial products have become less complex and advertisements for them are now subject to stricter supervision. The distribution of certain speculative products has been prohibited in Belgium. Via on-site inspections, increased attention has been paid to the MiFID conduct of business rules. This has contributed to a further decrease in the past year in the number of complaints received concerning investments. The number of complaints about investment advice has fallen by 80 per cent over three years.
In spite of this positive trend, there is still work to be done and new challenges have arisen. An example of these new challenges is the arrival of 'Fintech' companies, which bring technical innovations to the financial sector. In order to identify, understand and assess the potential impact of these new players, the FSMA launched a Fintech contact point on its website.
On-site visits are also continuing apace. Via the inspections carried out in 2013-2015, the FSMA examined the extent to which banks and investment firms were compliant with the rules governing duty of care. More than 6000 client dossiers were screened and 344 branches visited. These inspections made it possible to cover 88.6 per cent of the sector. In all, 272 shortcomings were identified, which gave rise to 144 orders. The players in question all drew up an action plan to rectify the shortcomings. The FSMA is monitoring the implementation of the action plans.
There is nevertheless further room for improvement. Mystery shopping at the various players that have not yet been the subject of an inspection reveals that there are still some shortcomings at certain institutions. These include, for example, giving investment advice too soon, or giving investment advice that does not sufficiently take account of the information about the client. This year and in years to come, compliance with the rules governing duty of care will therefore remain a point requiring attention.
The presentation of the annual report also looked in greater detail at the sanction policy conducted by the FSMA. Since 2013, the FSMA has handed down 28 administrative sanctions. These sanction decisions are increasingly related to legislation other than the provisions concerning market abuse. Thus, sanctions were imposed for infringements of legislation on offers to the public, on money-laundering and on insurance.
The annual report (in full in French or Dutch) is available on the website of the FSMA (www.fsma.be). A printed copy of the report (in French and Dutch) can also be requested via the order form on the website.