Financial consumer advocate

Law 1328 of 2009, established as mandatory the figure of the Financial Consumer Ombudsman for entities supervised by the Financial Superintendence of Colombia, in turn this law was regulated by Decree 2555 of 2010, which contemplates the entire procedure in the development of the functions assigned to the Ombudsman so that it can act as a protective mechanism of their rights within the framework of their competence.

It is important that you as a financial consumer know what are the issues, about which the Financial Consumer Ombudsman can learn, which are the following:

• Serve in a timely and effective manner the financial consumers of the corresponding entities.
• Know and resolve in an objective and free way for consumers, the complaints that they submit, within the terms and the procedure established for that purpose, related to a possible breach of the supervised entity of the legal, contractual or procedures internal that govern the execution of the services or products that they offer or provide, or regarding the quality of the same.
• Act as conciliator between financial consumers and the respective supervised entity in the terms indicated in Law 640 of 2001, its regulations, or in the regulations that modify or replace it. For this purpose, the financial consumer and the supervised entity may bring the matter to the attention of the respective Ombudsman, explicitly indicating their wish that the case be addressed in the development of the conciliation function. To exercise this function, the Ombudsman must be certified as a conciliator in accordance with current regulations.
• The document in which the conciliation carried out between the supervised entity and the financial consumer is recorded must be signed by them and the Financial Consumer Ombudsman as a sign that it was carried out in their presence, will lend executive merit and will have the effect of res judicata, without required to deposit it in the Conciliation Center. Failure to comply with the same will give the power to the complied party to make it enforceable through the respective legal channels.
• Be a spokesperson for financial consumers before the respective supervised entity.
• Make recommendations to the supervised entity related to services and attention to the financial consumer, and in general in matters framed in the scope of its activity.
• Propose to the competent authorities the regulatory modifications that are convenient for the best protection of the rights of financial consumers.
• The others assigned by the National Government and whose purpose is the adequate development of the SAC.
• The Consumer Ombudsman will be an institution aimed at the special protection of financial consumers, and as such, it must exercise the following functions with autonomy and independence:
• Serve in a timely and effective manner the financial consumers of the corresponding entities.
• Know and resolve in an objective and free way for consumers, the complaints that they submit, within the terms and the procedure established for that purpose, related to a possible breach of the supervised entity of the legal, contractual or procedures internal that govern the execution of the services or products that they offer or provide, or regarding the quality of the same.
• Act as conciliator between financial consumers and the respective supervised entity in the terms indicated in Law 640 of 2001, its regulations, or in the regulations that modify or replace it. For this purpose, the financial consumer and the supervised entity may bring the matter to the attention of the respective Ombudsman, explicitly indicating their wish that the case be addressed in the development of the conciliation function. To exercise this function, the Ombudsman must be certified as a conciliator in accordance with current regulations.
• The document containing the conciliation carried out between the supervised entity and the financial consumer must be signed by them and by the Financial Consumer Ombudsman as a sign that it was carried out in their presence. Likewise, it will provide executive merit and will have the effect of res judicata, without requiring it to be deposited in the Conciliation Center. Failure to comply with the same will give the power to the complied party to make it enforceable through the respective legal channels.
• Be a spokesperson for financial consumers before the respective supervised entity.
• Make recommendations to the supervised entity related to services and attention to the financial consumer, and in general in matters framed in the scope of its activity.
• Propose to the competent authorities the regulatory modifications that are convenient for the best protection of the rights of financial consumers.
• The others assigned by the National Government and the Financial Superintendence and whose purpose is the adequate development of the SAC.

• Those that do not correspond or are directly related to the ordinary course of business authorized to BMI COLOMBIA COMPAÑÍA DE SEGUROS DE VIDA SA
• Those concerning the employment relationship between BMI COLOMBIA COMPAÑÍA DE SEGUROS DE VIDA SA and its employees.
• Those arising from the condition of shareholder of BMI COLOMBIA COMPAÑÍA DE SEGUROS DE VIDA SA
• Those related to the recognition of disability, old-age and survivor benefits and pensions, as well as the recognition of compensation or insured sums of the insurance contract, except those related to the quality of the service in the recognition in one and another case, event in which they will be made known to the Financial Consumer Ombudsman.
• Those that refer to issues that are in process or have been resolved in judicial, arbitral or administrative proceedings.
• Those that correspond to the decision on the provision of a service or product, the conclusion of a contract and its conditions, or the link or admission as a client.
  Those that refer to events that occurred three (3) years prior to the filing date of the complaint.
• Complaints that have the same facts as their object and affect the same parties and that have been the subject of a prior decision by the Financial Consumer Ombudsman.
  Complaints whose individual amount, added all concepts, exceed one hundred (100) monthly legal minimum wages in force at the time of filing.

Rights:

• Receive products and services with safety and quality standards, in accordance with the conditions offered and the obligations assumed by the company.
• Have at your disposal, advertising and transparent, clear, truthful, timely and verifiable information on the characteristics of the products or services offered and/or supplied. In particular, the information provided by the respective entity must be such that it allows and facilitates comparison and understanding of the different products and services offered in the market.
• Require due diligence in the provision of the service by the supervised entities.
• Receive an adequate education regarding the different ways of implementing the products and services offered, their rights and obligations, as well as the costs generated on them, the markets and type of activity carried out by the supervised entities, as well as on the various protection mechanisms established to defend their rights.
• Respectfully submit queries, requests, requests, complaints or claims to the supervised entity, the Financial Consumer Ombudsman, the Financial Superintendence of Colombia and self-regulatory bodies.
• Request information from the Insurance Company about the percentage of commission that it pays to the intermediary in relation to the insurance products that it has acquired.

Duties:

• Check if the entity with which they wish to contract or use the products or services is authorized and supervised by the Financial Superintendence of Colombia.
• Find out about the products or services that you intend to acquire or use, inquiring about the general conditions of the operation.
• Observe the instructions and recommendations given by the supervised entity on the handling of financial products or services.
• Review the terms and conditions of the respective contract and its annexes, as well as keep the copies that are provided of said documents.
• Learn about the bodies and means available to the entity to present petitions, requests, complaints or claims.
• The Financial Consumers will have the duty to provide true, sufficient and timely information to the supervised entities and the competent authorities in the events in which they request it for the proper fulfillment of their duties and to update the data that they require.
• Obtain a timely response to each product or service request.

The supervised entities will have the following special obligations:

1. Provide information to the public regarding the Financial Consumer Ombudsmen, in accordance with the instructions given by the Financial Superintendence of Colombia on the matter.
2. Deliver the product or provide the service duly, that is, in the conditions reported, offered or agreed with the financial consumer, and use adequate safety and quality standards in supplying them.
3. Provide understandable information and transparent, clear, truthful, timely advertising about its products and services offered in the market.
4. Have a Financial Consumer Service System (SAC), in the terms indicated in this law, in the decrees that regulate it and in the instructions issued on the matter by the Financial Superintendence of Colombia.
5. Refrain from incurring in conduct that leads to contractual abuses or from agreeing to clauses that may affect the balance of the contract or give rise to an abuse of a dominant contractual position.
6. Prepare the contracts and annexes that regulate relations with clients, clearly, in characters legible to the naked eye, and make them available to them for their acceptance. A copy of the documents that support the contractual relationship must be available to the respective client, and will contain the terms and conditions of the product or service, the rights and obligations, and the interest rates, prices or fees and the way to determine them.
7. Refrain from making charges that were not agreed upon or not previously informed to the financial consumer, in accordance with the terms established in the regulations on the matter, and have at their disposal the vouchers or supports of the payments, transactions or operations carried out through any channel offered by the monitored entity. The conservation of said vouchers and supports must comply with the regulations on the matter.
8. Refrain from making any collection for prejudicial collection expenses without having carried out a real activity effectively aimed at said management, and without having previously informed the financial consumer of their value. Collection procedures must be carried out in a respectful manner and at appropriate times.
9. Keep the confidentiality of the information provided by the financial consumer and that is reserved in the terms established in the corresponding regulations, without prejudice to its provision to the competent authorities.
10. Provide evidence of the status and/or specific conditions of the products on a given date, when the financial consumer requests it, in accordance with the procedure established for this purpose, except for those cases in which the supervised entity is obliged to do so without need prior request.
11. Address and respond in a timely manner to requests, complaints or claims made by financial consumers, following the procedures established for this purpose, the provisions enshrined in this law and in other applicable regulations.
12. Provide the human, physical and technological resources so that the branches and agencies provide efficient and timely attention to financial consumers.
13. Allow its customers free consultation, at least once a month, through the channels indicated by the entity, of the status of its products and services.
14. Have on your website a link to the Colombian Financial Superintendence website dedicated to financial consumers.
15. Report to the Financial Superintendence of Colombia, in the manner indicated by it, the price of all products and services that are offered massively. This information must be permanently disclosed by each monitored entity in its offices, ATMs in its network and on its Internet page.
16. Inform financial consumers, within the terms indicated by the Financial Superintendence of Colombia, through the respective channel and prior to carrying out the operation, the cost of the same, if any, offering them the possibility of carrying it out or no.
17. Have the appropriate electronic means and controls to provide efficient security to transactions, to the confidential information of financial consumers and to the networks that contain it.
18. Collaborate promptly and diligently with the Financial Consumer Ombudsman, the judicial and administrative authorities and the self-regulatory bodies in the collection of information and the obtaining of evidence, in the cases that are required, among others, those of fraud, theft or any other conduct that may constitute a punishable act carried out through the use of credit or debit cards, electronic or telephone transactions, as well as any other modality.
19. Do not require the financial consumer to provide information that already resides in the supervised entity or in its dependencies, branches or agencies, without prejudice to the financial consumer's obligation to update the information that, in accordance with the corresponding regulations, so requires.
20. Develop financial education programs and campaigns for their clients about the different products and services they provide, their obligations and rights, and the costs of the products and services they provide, markets and types of entities supervised, as well as the different mechanisms established to the protection of their rights, according to the instructions given by the Financial Superintendence of Colombia for this purpose.
21. The others provided for in this law, the concordant, complementary, regulatory norms, those derived from the nature of the contract entered into or the service provided to financial consumers, as well as the instructions issued by the Financial Superintendence of Colombia in the development of its functions and self-regulatory bodies in their regulations.

In accordance with the provisions of literal c) of article 13 of Law 1328 of 2009, the Financial Consumer Ombudsman shall have the power to act as conciliator between financial consumers and the supervised entity, in the terms indicated in Law 2220 of 2022. 1) For this purpose, the financial consumer and the supervised entity may bring the matter to the attention of the respective Ombudsman, explicitly indicating their desire for the case to be dealt with in the development of the conciliation function. 2) For the exercise of this function, the Ombudsman must be certified as a conciliator in accordance with current regulations and must complete the process of notification of assistance to the parties. 3) Once the Conciliation Hearing has been completed, the document in which the conciliation carried out between the supervised entity and the financial consumer is recorded must be signed by them and the Financial Consumer Ombudsman as a sign that it was carried out in their presence, will provide executive merit and will have the effects of res judicata, without requiring it to be deposited in the Conciliation Center. 4) Failure to comply with it will give the power to the complied party to make it enforceable through the respective legal channels. 5) The conciliation process will be free. 6) The modality, whether face-to-face or virtual for the purposes of developing the hearing, will be that defined by the Financial Consumer Ombudsman.