Make a complaint
In this section you will find information about complaints against financial market participants.
ESMA is not competent to deal with matters relating to a dispute you may have with an investment firm. Depending on what the dispute is about, the national competent authority (NCA) that supervises this firm or the ombudsman in charge of financial services in your country (as relevant) could instead be able to help you.
Complaint against financial market participants
Advice on how to complain about an individual firm
You have the right to complain if you are not happy about a financial product or service you buy from a firm authorised by a national regulator in the European Union (EU).
Without prejudice to your right of access to the judicial system, firms are required to have procedures in place to deal with your complaint. Some problems are straightforward and quick to solve. Others may be more complicated and, depending on the type of complaint, may take longer to evaluate.
The best way to get your problem resolved is to follow three simple steps.
Contact the firm and explain the problem
You should contact the firm that sold you the product. This could be a financial institution, a broker or another type of financial advisor.
You can phone them, write to them or visit their office, whatever suits you best.
If you do not know the name of the person to contact, get in touch with the customer helpline or complaints department (often called Customer services or Customer relations). Keep a record of the person to whom you spoke, and the time of the conversation.
File a formal complaint
If you are not satisfied with the answer the firm gives you at the first step, you can file a formal complaint. Ask for details of the firm's complaints procedure.
Remember: EU law requires firms to have effective and transparent procedures for the reasonable and prompt handling of complaints received from their clients.
If the firm does not resolve the problem to your satisfaction, you may be able to refer your complaint to an independent complaints scheme (see Step 3).
Ombudsman, arbitration or mediation schemes
If you are not satisfied with the reply from the bank’s or investment firm’s complaints service, contact a financial ombudsman service, also called arbitration or mediation schemes. They can usually consider your complaint only after you have raised the matter with the firm and given them the chance to put things right.
Remember: According to EU law you should have access to simple, effective and low-cost out-of-court ways to resolve disputes with your service provider. These are known as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) entities. They should respond to your complaint within 90 days.
Please refer to Directive 2013/11/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on alternative dispute resolution for consumer disputes for more details
Cross border complaints
If the financial services firm in question is registered in another EU Member State, you might be covered by an out-of-court complaint scheme situated in the home country of the firm.
Financial Dispute Resolution Network
The financial dispute resolution network of national out-of-court complaint schemes in the European Economic Area countries (FIN-NET) was designed to help consumers overcome barriers that can result from cross-border transactions.
Their website allows the consumer to identify the relevant out-of-court complaint scheme in the country of the financial services provider and contact that body directly. FIN-NET schemes also give consumers the possibility to make their cross-border complaints in the language of their financial contract, or in the language in which they have normally dealt with their financial services provider.
Complaint about a National Competent Authority
If you wish to complain about a national competent authority, please visit the Breach of Union law section.
Complaint about a Credit Rating Agency
If you wish to make a complaint about a credit rating agency, please visit the Credit Ratings Agencies section.
Complaint about a Trade Repository
If you wish to make a complaint about a trade repository, please visit the Trade Repository section.
Complaint about a Securitisation Repository
If you wish to make a complaint about a securitisation repository, please visit the Securitisation Repository section.
Report about an infringement of national provisions transposing the UCITS directive
If you wish to report an infringement of national provisions transposing the UCITS Directive, please visit the section relating to “UCITS” on the Fund Management section.
Whistleblowers
In this Whistleblowers’ section, you will find the information you need to submit your report relating to infringements in the areas of UCITS, CRAs, Trade Repositories, Securitisation Repositories and Benchmarks.
In accordance with the UCITS Directive, ESMA provides market participants with the possibility to submit confidential reports concerning an infringement of national provisions transposing the UCITS Directive.
ESMA may also use information that comes to its attention via whistleblowers in order to conduct its supervisory activities. For further information about ESMA’s supervisory powers, please consult the Supervision section of the website.
ESMA welcomes reports from reporting persons working in the private or public sector who acquired information on breaches in a work-related context relating to UCITS, CRAs, TRs, SRs or Benchmarks, including:
- (a) persons having the status of worker, including civil servants;
- (b) persons having self-employed status;
- (c) shareholders and persons belonging to the administrative, management or supervisory body of an undertaking, including non-executive members, as well as volunteers and paid or unpaid trainees;
- (d) any persons working under the supervision and direction of contractors, subcontractors and suppliers.
ESMA also welcomes reports in relation to such breaches acquired in a work-based relationship which has since ended.
How to submit a report
If you fall into one of the categories above, and you wish to report a potential or actual infringement, please follow the steps set out below.
The reports can be submitted by email or by post, to the addresses specified in the relevant forms accessible via the links below. Please read the instructions carefully to ensure that you are aware of the different options for submitting your reports.
In order to best consider your report, please make sure that it contains detailed and complete information.
- Reports on infringements under the UCITS Directive
- Reports on potential or actual infringements of the CRA Regulation by a Credit Rating Agency supervised by ESMA
- Reports on potential or actual infringements of EMIR by a Trade Repository supervised by ESMA
- Reports on potential or actual infringements of the Securitisation Regulation by a Securitisation Repository supervised by ESMA
- Reports on potential or actual infringement of the Benchmarks Regulation (BMR)
Confidentiality and Data protection
Please be informed that ESMA has taken all the necessary steps to ensure that the confidentiality of these reports is preserved. Your report will be considered as confidential, unless you expressly and unambiguously consent to the disclosure of the information.
Despite the steps taken by ESMA to ensure the confidentiality, as a whistleblower you should be aware of the potential risks you may run by submitting such a report. As in all such proceedings you may face reputational risks, potential retaliation from an employer and legal consequences (including potential civil suits and potential criminal proceedings). These risks are not exhaustive and will depend on each specific jurisdiction. To reduce these risks, please consider that (i) the use of corporate devices or corporate email addresses; (ii) sending documents through corporate cable or wifi network; (iii) using corporate printer or scanner, and (iv) keeping hard copies of the documents in office may entail a risk of identification. Your options for submitting your report are set out in the forms, including the option of submitting it in double envelope format by post. If you wish to submit the report by post you should clearly indicate ‘confidential’ on the envelope and avoid including information that could allow identifying you. If you wish to submit the report via email you may consider setting up an ad hoc email address.
Any personal data contained in these report forms will be processed in compliance with the requirements laid down in Regulation (EU) 2018/1725. Further information regarding the processing of your personal data may be found in the Data Protection section of ESMA’s website.
For any additional question on the processing of your personal data, please contact the Data Protection Officer at ESMA (dpo@esma.europa.eu).
Please be aware that misusing the Whistleblower mechanism may constitute a criminal offence in one or more Member States of the European Union.