2022 FinCoNet Annual General Meeting & International Seminar

The FinCoNet Annual General Meeting was hosted by the Banco de Portugal in Lisbon, Portugal on 21-22 November 2022, and was directly followed by the FinCoNet/Banco de Portugal International Seminar on Financial Consumer Protection, held on 23 November 2022.

The open sessions, which commenced at 13.00 on day one, were opened by the Chair of FinCoNet, Maria Lúcia Leitão. The FinCoNet Secretariat provided an update on the joint work that FinCoNet is undertaking with other International Organisations and groups and then Standing Committees  2 and 3 presented their on-going work. Participants also had the opportunity to engage in a roundtable session focused on forward looking supervisory risks, trends and priorities.

Day two, 22 November 2022, started with a presentation of the FinCoNet Programme of Work 2023/4 and then continued with an update from Standing Committees 4 and 6. The rest of the session was dedicated to a workshop focussed on the risks to consumers, the challenges facing supervisors and the supervisory tools used to monitor and respond to new forms of credit or credit-like products such as Buy Now, Pay Later.

The Seminar, was held on day three, 23 November 2022, and, co-hosted by FinCoNet and the Banco de Portugal, addressed the topic of Market Conduct Supervision: reviewing the fundamentals and facing the challenges ahead.

The first session of the Seminar reviewed the fundamental elements of what makes an effective and efficient market conduct supervisor, including the capabilities required and range of tools that can be deployed. The second session of the Seminar explored market conduct supervision in the modern world – the challenges facing market conduct supervisors now and looking ahead.

The Governor of Banco de Portugal offered welcoming remarks (see video below).