Actualidad Colombia

Customer services for financial consumers with disabilities

Draft circular modifying the Basic Legal Circular

Colombia’s Financial Authority, the SFC, has announced a regulatory programme to update and complete the provisions protecting financial consumers, focusing on those with disabilities.

The new guidelines require regulated institutions to set up specific measures to serve, protect and respect financial consumers with disabilities as part of their Customer Service Care (CSC). These measures should include a priority service adapted to the needs of these financial consumers.

The programme seeks to use financial literacy programmes and mechanisms to supply information to financial consumers by different means, adapted for their particular disability, with the use of tools such as symbols, signage, sign language, braille and subtitles on corporate videos.

The programme specifies the CSC training plans that should be run for the civil servants involved in financial consumer services, which must include those measures in place for serving disabled persons.  

If the draft is finally passed, it will become law on 1st April 2017.