How the BCRA Amended the Rules for “Protecting Financial Services Users”

The Argentine Central Bank (the “BCRA,” after its Spanish Acronym) issued a Communique establishing new requirements for financial institutions, foreign exchange agencies, non-financial companies who issue credit and/or purchase cards and other non-financial credit providers (the “Governed Entities”) to protect users of financial services.

The amendments aim to further strengthen the rights of users of financial services to receive information on the products and/or services they contract (including terms and conditions and a copy of the documents they sign), by establishing that such information must be clear, sufficient and easily accessible and visible.

Likewise, the Communique establishes that governed entities must:

• Provide users with a summary of the contract (prior to its execution), emphasizing conditions that will have the greatest impact on the user.

• Make the contract downloadable, from its online banking service (home banking) or, if not available, from its website, including special offers or promotions that have been offered, agreed to, and are in force for the user.

• When contracting products and/or services electronically, users must be provided with (i) the necessary technical means to detect and correct any mistakes or omissions in the data they uploaded prior to contracting; (ii) a mechanism to confirm their decision to contract the products and/or services, so that their inaction is not deemed as consent; and (iii) terms and conditions that are legible and can be downloaded and saved without alteration.

• Publish on its institutional website, under the name “Adhesion Contracts - Consumer Protection Law No. 24,240,” the standard  contract templates for all the products and/or services offered (individually for each plan, product and/or service), as well as any other general and/or particular condition through which the user’s rights and obligations are enforced and promotions and bonuses are instrumented (with precise indication of start and end dates, as well as any applicable conditions and limitations).

• Have links that allow the user to revoke their acceptance of the contracted product or service (“I changed My Mind” Button) and to terminate the contractual relationships (“Termination Button”). In both cases, they must be identified with the legend “Botón de Arrepentimiento” (“I Changed My Mind Button”) or “Botón de Baja” (“Termination Button”), as the case may be, and be large and visually prominent when the user first accesses the online banking service (home banking) or similar platform so that the user can easily revoke or terminate the product or service.

Lastly, the BCRA clarified that Governed Entities must comply with the provisions of Resolution No. 424/2020 of the Secretariat of Domestic Trade with respect to the “I Changed My Mind button” as specifically regulated by the BCRA.