Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 28 / Trend A.Akhundov /
Not only government agencies and international financial institutions, but also the private sector and mass media have to be involved in efforts to strengthen the rights of financial service consumers in Azerbaijan.
This was said by the deputy director of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) in the South Caucasus region Mathias Feldman during a speech at a seminar on Wednesday held due to fulfilment of consumer protection and the financial literacy component of the project on capital market modernisation.
He said that according to research, some 150 million new customers enter the global market of financial services every year which poses new challenges and tasks.
"The Central Bank of Azerbaijan expressed its readiness to cooperate with the project and commitment to reforms," Mathias said.
According to him, within the work on improvement of the legislation, concrete proposals should be developed and it is also necessary to carry out market research.
"Up till now, the Swiss Government has donated $74 million to Azerbaijan, which was directed to support macroeconomic stability, non-oil sector and agriculture," Mathias said.
According to the head of the World Bank mission in Azerbaijan Larisa Leshchenko, who also spoke at the seminar, consumers should be aware of all the risks associated with a particular financial product.
"From this point of view, it is important to strengthen measures on informing the public. This will increase the confidence of consumers and increase the demand for financial services," Leshchenko said.