Personal data is defined as any data or information that relates directly or indirectly to the individual, including any sensitive personal data that may represent the individual (Department of Personal Data Protection2015). This act applies to any person who collects and processes personal information regarding commercial transactions (Price Water House Coopers2015). Examples include the individual’s
name, identity card number, date of birth, mobile number etc. In the event that the personal data needs to be outsourced to a third party, the data user (the institution that originally obtained the data) have to ensure that the third party provides suf- ficient guarantee to protect the individual’s personal data.
The Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) was enforced in November 2014 to protect the public’s personal data. The act was gazetted in June 2010 is an act which regulates the processing of personal data regarding commercial transactions.
Considering that financial institutions in Malaysia are involved in storing and managing a huge amount of consumers’personal information, thefinancial sector in Malaysia will inevitably be affected with the enactment of this act. The needs and risks faced byfinancial consumers in Malaysia will continue to evolve and this will create more challenges and obstacles in the future for regulators in protecting consumer’s interests. The enactment of this act is in line with the evolution of the Malaysian business sector and aims to reduce the risks that are faced byfinancial consumers. The need to improve consumer protection is of vital importance.
Through this enactment, Malaysia has achieved another milestone in developing a viable platform in protection thefinancial sector’s main stakeholder; the consumers.
4 Conclusion
Financial consumers in Malaysia will continue to evolve and will face greater challenges in the future. As the country’s backbone, it is in the interest of future regulators to protect the consumers’interest. Without adequate consumer awareness and protection, consumers would be inclined to do injustice to themselves, espe- cially when they are influenced by the media, peers and, also business entities to further spend to enrich their lifestyles, when in actual fact their spending will be the cause of their own economic downfall. Although the Malaysian government have put several measures into place to address and minimize the risks that consumers will be facing, however, it would seem that the measures have not been effective to curb financial mismanagement among retail consumers based on the numbers of bankruptcy and scams being on the rise and the fact that a huge number of those who are bankrupt are those from the working population. Thus, it would be rec- ommended for BNM and the government to test the impact of the programs that has been put in place to reduce thefinancial and economic risks that consumers might face and also to try and introduce other new measures such as an informative portal or program where consumers get to evaluate their recent financial decision or spending activity and identify whichfinancial decision is the actual planned deci- sion and which one was influenced by a third party such as a friend, family member, advertisement, television, movies or others so that they will learn to identify the steps in which they are exposing themselves to externalfinancial risk. It is hoped that the continuous positive growth of thefinancial sector in Malaysia will further spur the nation’s economic growth and that a sound regulative framework is put in place in line with the needs of the sector.
Notes
1. https://www.myfteg.com/about. Retrieved 1/12/2017 (official website).
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http://www.bnm.gov.my/index.php?ch=mone&pg=mone_opr_stmt
Ahcene Lahsasnais currently Vice President, Research and Publication, Malaysian Financial Planning Council (MFPC) (Malaysia), prior to that he was an Associate Professor at the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF) Malaysia, Ahcene Lahsasna received his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Islamic law and Islamic jurisprudence from International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). Prof. Ahcene Lahsasna has industry experience acting as Shariah advisor for Islamic banking, Islamic capital market, Talaful, and Re-Takaful in Malaysia. Prof. Ahcene Lahsasna is certified training and certified examiner, In 2016 Dr. Ahcene Lahsasna received the Distinguished Scientist Award (Specialization: Islamic Finance) for the contribution to Islamicfinance. Research Awards-VIRA. Venus International foundation. India. In 2017 he received the Global Responsible Business Leadership Award in 2017, for Islamic Financial Excellence. By Asia Pacific CSR council, and supported by United Nations Global Compact. Prof. Ahcene Lahsasna has authored articles, research papers and books on various topics and issues in Islamicfinance. He has authored more than 22 Books in Arabic and English, Published in Lebanon, Egypt, Singapore and Malaysia.
Financial Consumer Protection in Spain
Montserrat Guillen and Jorge M. Uribe
1 Financial Consumer
1.1 Of fi cial De fi nition of Financial Consumer
In Spain the notion ofconsumerdoes not coincide with the legal definition of the individual protected by domesticfinancial regulation. That is, while a consumer (or user) refers to a physical or legal entity, which operates in an area outside a business or professional activity; the individual infinancial regulation is a client.
The client can be an active or passive user of banks’services, or a retail consumer (investor) in the capital market. The concept of client is more general than the concept of consumer. For instance the non-financialfirms are also included in the former, while they are not in the later.
Nevertheless, as explained by Zunzunegui (2013), in practice there exists a tendency to limit the protection of the financial client to the one implied by the narrower definition of“financial consumer”. This later concept is indeed related to physical persons that in payments services, distance contracts or credit to con- sumption, act with purposes different to her business or professional activities.