Dispute Resolution Alternative for Retail Investors Now Available

The Securities Market Commission (CMVM) announced this Thursday that a new alternative dispute resolution mechanism is now available for non-professional investors.

“Retail investors now have access to a dispute resolution mechanism with financial intermediaries. The decision represents an alternative to the use of legal means,” the regulator said in a statement.

On November 13, the CMVM signed two protocols to resolve conflicts between entities subject to its supervision and non-professional investors.

In a statement sent on this occasion, the organization explained that these protocols aim to “encourage the use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms that are carried out quickly and at very low (or even zero) cost to non-professional investors”, providing an alternative to litigation. means.

These are two protocols: one signed with financial institutions and the other with arbitration centers for consumer disputes, in a ceremony attended by those responsible for the Directorates General of Justice and Consumer Policy and Arbitration of Consumer Disputes, the Portuguese Banking Association (APB) and representatives of financial intermediaries.

According to CMVM vice-president Ines Drumond, lay investors now have “another alternative for conflict resolution” that should be “fast, simple and effective”.

In a document posted on its portal, the CMVM explains that the protocols will allow financial intermediaries to accept requests for mediation and arbitration of disputes submitted by non-professional clients and the maximum amount of which does not exceed 15,000 euros.

The arbitration centers acknowledge that these disputes are “referred to them without the need for financial intermediaries to first join them,” and the CMVM undertakes to provide “training content on specific issues as part of financial intermediation activities.”