This diploma thesis compares Czech and Slovak legislations which are linked with the Internet business and analyzed differences between them. The whole work is focused on consumer protection with specialization on problems that arise in this special way of shopping. In practical part I carry out a research which was focused on sellers and customers who use Internet shops. This research also focused on problems which came out from this way of shopping. In the end of this work there are recommendations for improving this special way of shopping.

The thesis provides an overview of consumer protection in the financial markets in the Czech Republic. The focus is on the legislative system of client protection in commercial banking, which includes consumer credit, protecting consumer deposits and system of payments. Furthermore, this thesis deals with capital markets, focusing on consumer protection resulting from the implementation of MiFID in the legal system of the Czech Republic. The last segment of the financial markets defined in this thesis is the insurance industry. Each area of consumer protection is complemented by illustrations of current cases and includes an evaluation of the effectiveness of certain legal measures and revealing the weaknesses in each segment. Beyond the legislative framework are also described activities in the area of consumer protection by major institutions, in particular the activities of the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic, Czech Financial Arbitrator, Deposit Insurance Fund and the Guarantee Fund. To add to the comprehensiveness of the overview of consumer protection in the financial markets, additional protective measures were included (Institute of debt relief, distraint of debtor, protection of personal data of clients of financial institutions).

The main goal of the thesis is to evaluate the bus, train and air carriers when loss, theft or damage of luggage occurs. To analyze the best and the worst air carriers and to compare the reasons. To evaluate the experience of air traffic passengers with lost, damaged or delayed luggage; if they have ever had a cancelled or delayed flight and if they received any kind of compensation from the airline. To analyze six airlines based on the quality of their services provided and to compare the results between the airlines. The thesis uses questionnaires for research; open and closed questions were applied; the results are evaluated in both quantitative and qualitative way. The opening assumptions were mainly proved wrong. The quality of services provided in the means of transportation is the most important agent of satisfaction.

Värdepappersmarknaden är en marknad under ständig utveckling. Den historiska utvecklingen som skett har skapat incitament för ett utökat regelverk för att stärka kundskyddet. På marknaden återfinns en rad olika aktörer som erbjuder rådgivning till privatpersoner, detta för att hjälpa kunderna investera på denna komplicerade marknad. För att stärka kundskyddet har Europeiska Unionen [EU] släppt ett direktiv vid namn MiFID II som verkar för att öka transparensen mellan rådgivare och kund och därmed ge kunden en ökad förståelse för olika investeringsalternativ. Medlemsländerna i EU hade fram till den 3 januari 2018 på sig att implementera direktivet i sin lagstiftning. Syftet med uppsatsen är därför att undersöka vilka effekter rådgivare tror att implementeringen av MiFID II har inneburit för konsumenter på värdepappersmarknaden. Syftet är även att öka förståelsen för hur MiFID II bidrar till transparens samt hur rådgivares dagliga arbete påverkas.  Vidare så har nio stycken semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts för att uppnå studiens syfte. Studiens resultat påvisar att implementeringen av MiFID II har haft en positiv effekt för kunderna på marknaden. Den ökade transparensen har enligt respondenterna i studien resulterat i en ökad förståelse för de investeringar som kunderna genomför och har därmed minskat informationsasymmetrin på marknaden. Studien visar även att implementeringen hos de övriga aktörerna på marknaden har gått smidigare än hos de banker som deltagit i studien, detta då dessa redan innan implementeringen arbetat i linje med de nya reglerna. Implementeringen har dock inte påverkat längden på möten nämnvärt även om direktivet resulterat i en ökad tidsåtgång för rådgivare. Den ökade tidsåtgången tror respondenterna kan ha en negativ effekt för småsparare då en ökad arbetsbörda leder till att kostnaderna ökar. Studiens resultat tyder på att det i framtiden inte lönar sig för småsparare att besöka en rådgivare utan att de istället får förlita sig på andra alternativ som robotrådgivning. / The securities market is under constant change. And the historical changes have created an incentive for an extended regulation in order to strengthen the customer protection. The securities market holds a number of different actors providing consulting service to individuals in order to help customers invest on this complicated market. In order to strengthen the customer protection and understanding, the European Union [EU] has released a directive called MiFID II that aims to increase the transparency between advisors and consumers. The deadline for the member states to implement the directive was January third 2018. The purpose of this study is to examine what effects the advisors believes the implementation of MiFID II have meant to the customers on the securities market. The intention is also to enhance the understanding of how MiFID II contributes to transparency as well as how it has affected the daily work of the advisors. Nine semi-structured interviews have been conducted in order to attain the purpose of the study. The study shows that the implementation of MiFID II has had a positive impact on the customers. The increased transparency has according to the respondents led to an increased understanding within the securities market, which has led to a decreased information asymmetry. The study also shows that the implementation was easier to accomplice for the other actors than for the banks. The other actors already worked in line with the new standards. The implementation has despite this not led to an increased duration of the meetings even though it has led to an additional workload for the advisors. The respondents find that the increased workload will lead to higher costs. The respondents believe that the increased workload have a negative effect for smaller savers. The results indicate that small savers will have to depend on other alternatives such as robot advisors in the future.

Microfinance, the provision of financial services to the poor, has been celebrated for its win-win proposition of reducing poverty while operating on a financially sustainable or even profitable basis. However, the industry has recently experienced several crises that have challenged both its financial sustainability and its social reputation. As a result, the focus of the microfinance sector on commercialization has given way to a new emphasis on client-focused products and services and on customer protection as the industry’s current priorities. Given the risks it implies both to the social impact of microfinance and to institutional sustainability, the main focus of the current client protection efforts in microfinance is on protecting borrowers against over-indebtedness. <p><p>However, customer protection efforts are struggling with a significant gap of knowledge about the prevalence, causes and consequences of over-indebtedness. There is no agreed definition or measurement of personal over-indebtedness. Especially, there is no appropriate definition for customer protection purposes and for the specific circumstances of microfinance. Existing over-indebtedness definitions mostly centre on default, thus avoiding portfolio quality problems for the lending institutions. They do not take into account that borrowers already experience severe consequences of over-indebtedness before reaching the stage of default. Findings on the empirical prevalence of over-indebtedness and on its causes and consequences may differ based on a definition that takes the borrowers’ over-indebtedness experiences and thus the customer protection perspective into account.<p><p>The first paper of this PhD develops an over-indebtedness definition that is suitable for customer protection purposes in the microfinance context. The definition is based on the sacrifices that microborrowers experience related to their loans. Working with the economics, psychology, and sociology literatures on both microfinance and consumer finance, the paper provides a conceptual analysis of the demand and supply side factors that cause over-indebtedness as well as the role of adverse economic shocks. The second paper reveals the broad spectrum of consequences that over-indebtedness can have on borrowers and on MFIs. It then reviews the empirical studies on over-indebtedness in the microfinance industry to date to shed light on the prevalence of over-indebtedness in microfinance. <p><p>In an empirical field research supported by the Independent Evaluation Department of KfW Entwicklungsbank and the Smart Campaign at ACCION’s Center for Financial Inclusion, the PhD applies the customer protection definition of over-indebtedness that results from the first paper to the microfinance market of Accra in Ghana. The third paper uses this unique database to pinpoint the prevalence of over-indebtedness in this market and analyse the debt experiences of microborrowers. In a second step, by means of a logistic regression of alternative measurements on the customer protection measurement of over-indebtedness, it provides empirical confirmation for the important differences between the risk management perspective on over-indebtedness and the customer protection point of view. <p><p>Finally, the fourth paper of the PhD tests socio-demographic and economic factors on the borrower level for their relationship to over-indebtedness. It sheds light on how the potential over-indebtedness causes that emerge from the analysis of paper 1 relate to the likelihood of a borrower being over-indebted. It also works with the primary database from Ghana and uses econometric regression methods to confirm to what extent theses potential causes of over-indebtedness relate to over-indebtedness in the given microfinance setting.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Bakgrund: I och med den globala finansiella kris som utbröt år 2008 påvisades ett flertal brister i den befintliga lagstiftningen på finansmarknadsområdet. Den rådande EU-lagstiftningen behövde uppdateras och anpassas efter en mer komplex finansmarknad. Därmed antogs av Europaparlamentet och rådet år 2014 två nya rättsakter, MiFID II och MiFIR, i syfte att täcka rådande brister och vidareutveckla den befintliga regleringen i det gällande direktivet MiFID.   Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att utreda och analysera de effekter som införandet av MiFID II får för finansiella rådgivare såväl som för portföljförvaltare i deras löpande verksamhet.   Genomförande: Studien har genomförts med ett rättsdogmatiskt angreppssätt i referensramen. Vidare används ett rättsekonomiskt angreppssätt i analysen där det även förs en etisk diskussion. Underliggande direktiv ”Europaparlamentets och rådets direktiv 2014/65/EU av den 15 maj 2014 om marknader för finansiella instrument och om ändring av direktiv 2002/92/EG och av direktiv 2011/61/EU” har legat till grund för studien där störst vikt har lagts vid regeringens proposition 2016/17:162: “Nya regler om marknader för finansiella instrument”.                                                                  Slutsats: Studiens resultat av de analyserade ändringarna visar på att regleringen kring tillståndspliktiga värdepappersbolag kommer att bli mer omfattande samt att det kommer att ställas högre krav på dokumentation vid investeringssammanhang. Dessa ökade krav torde medföra att kostnaderna, för såväl tillståndspliktiga bolag som tillsynsmyndigheter, kommer att öka samtidigt som fler bolag kommer att bli tvungna att underkasta sig tillståndsplikt. Ur en konkurrenssynpunkt riskerar ändringarna att gynna stora och/eller kapitalstarka aktörer och därigenom snedvrida konkurrensen på marknaden. Det föreslagna provisionsförbudet torde å sin sida verka för att kapital omallokeras från bolag som tidigare levt på höga avgifter och incitamentsstrukturer till att istället förflyttas till bolag vilka levererar en bra tjänst och produkt. / Background: Due to the global financial crisis that occurred in 2008, multiple deficiencies in existing financial market legislation were identified. The current EU legislation was in need of update and to be adapted to a more complex financial market. Therefore, the European Parliament and the Council adopted two new legal acts in 2014, MiFID II and MiFIR, to overcome current shortcomings and further develop the existing regulation in the current MiFID Directive. Aim: The purpose of this paper is to investigate and analyze the effects of the introduction of MiFID II for financial advisors as well as for asset managers in their ongoing operations. Completion: The study has been conducted with a legal-judicial approach in the theoretical part, whereas we in the analysis part we use law and economics. In the analysis the ethical impact of the changes in legislation is also discussed. “Directive 2014/65/EU of the European parliament and of the council of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments and amending Directive 2002/92/EC and Directive 2011/61/EU” as well as the Swedish bill “2016/17:162: “Nya regler om marknader för finansiella instrument” has provided the basis for the study. Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that the regulation of licensed securities companies will increase and become more extensive, and that there will be more requirements for documentation in investment context. These increased requirements will lead to a rise in costs, both for licensed companies and regulators, as more companies will need to be subject to a license requirement. From a competitive point of view, the changes tend to benefit large and/or capital-strong players, thereby distorting competition in the market. The prohibition of commission, on the other hand, should result in a re-allocation of capital from companies that previously received their incomes from high fees and incentive structures to instead be re-allocated to companies that deliver a good service and a good product.

The thesis deals with the question about necessary conditions to achieve the objective of a high level of consumer protection in the context of the ongoing internal electricity market taking into account the grid-bound electricity supply, which is characterized by the natural monopoly of regulated networks as well as by competition for the homogeneous product electricity. It evaluates the relationship between effective competition and energy sector-specific consumer protection taking into account the energy-specific regulatory law and examines in detail the regulations of the Directive 2009/72/EC concerning consumer protection under the perspective of enabling the responsible and informed consumer to operate as a self-determined market participant and so shape the market actively towards its completion. After art. 114 TFEU as the existing central norm concerning the alignment of the internal energy market is distinguished from other possible competence rules like the new energy sector-specific competence title of art. 194 TFEU the requirements developed by the ECJ case law concerning art. 114 TFEU from the point of view of the energy sector-specific consumer protection are presented. The thesis clarifies both to what extent in Directive 2009/72/EC codified consumer rights are suitable to achieve...