Substantial extra money for consumers who used SAL-Fin last year (Alternative Dispute Resolution)

Bucharest, March 21^st, 2025- Consumers received an extra Lei 1.7 million in 2024 as a result of conciliations carried out by SAL-Fin (Entitatea de Soluționare Alternativă a Litigiilor în Domeniul Financiar non-bancar= the Alternative Dispute Resolution Entity for disputes in the non-bank Financial Sector)) of the Financial Supervisory Authority.

The highest additional amount obtained by a consumer who used the conciliation procedures offered by SAL-Fin was Lei 332,715, as a result of the conciliation of a dispute concerning compensation for the fire damage to a building (building + hall).

Moreover, in other cases dealt with by SAL-Fin, consumers have also received significant additional sums. For example, in a dispute in which the consumer claimed a difference in compensation for non-pecuniary damages in the case of a road traffic accident, he/she received an extra Lei 230,100. In two other similar cases, the additional sums paid to the affected consumers amounted to Lei 51,700 and Lei 40,385 respectively.

Last year, SAL-Fin registered a total of 761 requests for conciliation, a drop of about 18% compared to the previous year, when 923 requests were registered. Out of the total number of applications registered last year, 322 applications were accepted as the legal eligibility conditions were met.

Consumer applications taken up for analysis during 2024 were (almost) entirely in the field of insurance.

The two alternative dispute resolution procedures are:

• the settlement procedure by proposing a solution, with an average duration of 30 days, involves the settlement of a dispute under the supervision and guidance of a SAL-Fin conciliator, which arises as a result of proposals made by the conciliator, suggestions and concessions agreed by the parties in order to settle the dispute within SAL-Fin;
• The procedure of alternative dispute resolution by imposing a solution, with an average duration of 55 days, entails the issuance of a tax assessment decision which, if not appealed within 15 calendar days from the date it is served, constitutes an enforceable title. Approximately 86% of the solutions adopted in SAL-Fin's 2024 proceedings, irrespective of the method of resolution, were accepted by the parties.

Out of the total of 332 accepted requests, consumers chose the procedure for imposing a remedy for 285 requests (86%), of which 98% of the procedures were conducted online.

For 47 requests (14%), consumers chose the remedy proposal procedure. Almost all of them were online.

In total, between 2016 and 2024, approximately 3,800 disputes were resolved at the SAL-Fin level.

The examination of disputes subject to SAL-Fin is free of charge and is carried out by independent and impartial conciliators registered in the Register of Conciliators. It is made up of individuals with professional training and experience in both non-bank financial markets and alternative dispute resolution.

SAL-Fin is the only alternative dispute resolution entity that organizes and administers ADR procedures in the areas in which the ASF has competence and is the only national entity member of the European FIN-NET network. The development of SAL-Fin's capacity supports both consumers, by increasing the capacity to process cases, and traders, who have an efficient way of resolving disputes with customers.