Legal purpose of Financial Ombudsmen in Europe!
According to Directive 2013/11/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on Alternative Dispute Resolution for consumer disputes and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 and Directive 2009/22/EC Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) like the Danish Financial Complaint Board are supposed to offer a simple, fast and low-cost out-of-court solution to disputes between consumers and traders.
Directive 2013/11/EU emphasises the importance of high-quality alternative dispute resolutions for consumer disputes, as these organisations are considered essential prerequisites for achieving a high level of consumer protection in Europe.
Alternative Dispute Resolution organisations, such as the Danish Financial Complaint Board, are legally required to ensure access to simple, efficient, fast, and low-cost ways of resolving domestic and cross-border disputes arising from sales or service contracts, thereby benefiting consumers and boosting their confidence in the market. That access should apply to both online and offline transactions, and is particularly important when consumers shop across borders[1], as it isitical in establishing consumer trust in a functioning internal market.
We and a lot of distressed European consumers who lost their money via transfers to Kobenhavns Andelskasse had to learn recently that the Danish Financial Complaint Board evidently is not aware about its duties and its purpose.
Kobenhavn Andelskasse a Danish money laundering hub
Following a disastrous audit report issued by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (DFSA) on 6 September 2018, Finansiel Stabilitet took over ownership of the company, and the DFSA filed money laundering charges against Kobenhavns Andelskasse.
No support from the Finansiel Stability and the DSFA
Our organisation has addressed Finansiel Stabilitet and the DFSA several times and requested recourse for the victims. We also asked for a payout of the frozen amounts, as we learned from German criminal files that money mules with bank accounts at Postbank (a significant number of which were identified here) transferred money to Kobenhavns Andelskasse through the end of September 2018. However, Kobenhavns Andelskasse was already owned by Finansiel Stabilitet at the time. Finansiel Stabilitet decided against any refunds.
Until today, Finansiel Stabilitet has rejected all claims from victims against Kobenhavn Andelskasse – they have even retained the frozen amounts. They instructed us to attend court.
For more details regarding our requests to the Danish authorities to act, pls read this article: Spotlight on the Danish authorities.
A simple, fast, and low-cost out-of-court solution looks different!
Finally, after receiving a final rejection letter from Finansiel Stability, we sent a complaint letter to the Danish Financial Complaints Board on 9 September 2021.
We have enclosed the audit report of the DFSA, issued as of 6 September 2018 (provided to us by a whistleblower) and requested their assistance in resolving your cases with Kobenhavns Andelskasse. We were instructed to register every single victim with the Danish Financial Complaint Board, and a payment of 200 DKK had to be made to the Danish authority by each victim.
During the next 15 months, we exchanged letters with the Finansiel Stability. For more info, please refer here.
There was no involvement of the Danish Financial Ombudsman at all.
On 30 March, 2023, after 17 months, did we receive a long Danish letter and a short English version telling us – without any more explanations – that the Danish Financial Ombudsman would not make any decision in this case. They would reimburse the 200 DKK for each victim, but only if the victim provided an adequate IBAN and BIC.
The decision was made by Vibeke Rønne (Nordea), Inge Kramer (Danske Bank A/S), Mette Lindekvist Højsgaard (Jyske Bank), Tina Thygesen, and Jørn Ravn.
We described the case in detail from the beginning, kept our story the same, and raised no new claims.
So it took them 17 months to decide that they were not in charge and to send the victims of Kobenhavns Andelskasse finally to court.
We propose dissolving the Danish Financial Complaint Board immediately. Poor performance is a polite term for what this organisation did to further erode confidence in consumer protection in Europe.
2 thoughts on “Poor Performance of the Danish Financial Complaint Board!”
Its like you read my mind! You appear to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with a few pics to drive the message home a little bit, but instead of that, this is excellent blog. A fantastic read. I’ll certainly be back.
Go to EU
Danish Banks stick together 😡
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