Can a financial consumer negotiate its classification? The consumer protection system in the financial contracts

In the financial contracts the parties are not on equal terms because the financial client expresses his willingness to conclude the contract on the basis of information provided by the intermediary. For the European legislation clients must be classified by intermediaries as retail, professional and eligible counterparties. The classification proposed by the intermediary may be rejected by the client, who may ask to be classified differently. When a client’s request to be classified in a certain category is automatically accepted as valid, without any serious evaluation, the entire security system is invalidated. Therefore it seems evident that for identify the profile of the client, it is necessary to have precise information about the client’s skills and the knowledge in the field, and about the level of risk that the client is disposed to take on. A change of classification, even if done at the request of the client, would not respect the requirements to safeguard the interests of the client. Knowledge about the characteristics of the specific investment is the right of every investor, even professionals or those who appear willing to take risks. Often, the methods by which intermediaries classify clients is not always used properly . May be important to develop a research about the system of client protection based on measures suited to the experiences of the individuals, on the specific nature of financial transactions, and protect the concrete objectives of the client. It’s necessary to protect the weak party to a contract even if the weak party does not choose to request the protection. Judges should be justified in taking action to protect a weak party to a contract, even if the weak party does not choose to request this intervention.