Communications - Compound Interest and Other Issues Between Banks and Customers

Compound Interest and Other Issues Between Banks and Customers

Initiatives by consumer associations aimed at making available to the public letter templates to be sent to banks are intensifying. These letters contain requests for the restitution of money on various grounds (for example, in relation to the purchase of Argentine government bonds or industrial company shares, the capitalization of interest, etc.). The letter templates, addressed also to the Bank of Italy, "invite and formally request" the latter "to take action and supervise" so that banks "return what is due without forcing the user to resort to the Judiciary."

In the exercise of its supervisory functions, the Bank of Italy cannot intervene in the merits of disputes between banks and clients, as the protection of their subjective rights falls exclusively to the Judicial Authority. It is up to the entrepreneurial choices of individual banks to decide on the position to take in legal proceedings in response to restitution claims advanced by customers.

The Bank of Italy has, however, recalled on several occasions that intermediaries must pay the utmost attention to the quality of services and the need to offer products with easily understandable characteristics, suitable for satisfying customers' savings investment needs. Banks have also been repeatedly urged to make efforts to assist savers regarding losses suffered by them in cases where doubts arise, even based solely on internal checks, regarding the adequacy of the assistance provided at the time of investment.

Therefore, in relation to its institutional functions, the Bank of Italy has no means to respond to the requests indicated above.