Complaints from retail investors to the
Autorité des Marchés Financiers mediator rose 37% in 2025, the sharpest annual
increase since the mediator began tracking the data.
The AMF mediation
service received 3,010 new requests and closed 2,772 cases, up 41% from 2024.
Its backlog also rose to 693 cases from 455 a year earlier.
PEA Transfers Drive
Complaints
The Plan d’Épargne en
Actions (PEA), France’s tax-advantaged equity account, was the largest source
of complaints.
London’s trading industry is coming home!
Closed PEA-related
cases rose 150% to 462. Transfer delays accounted for almost three quarters of
them. The mediator linked the increase partly to foreign brokers entering the
French PEA market from late 2024, with some using transfer procedures unfamiliar
to French custodians.
Foreign brokers were
involved in 151 transfer complaints. The mediator declined jurisdiction in 97
cases because the brokers’ terms directed clients to other dispute-resolution
arrangements.
Order Execution Disputes
Retail investors also
raised complaints about order execution.
One case involved a
trailing stop order that did not trigger at the level initially set. The broker
explained that the threshold adjusts as the market price rises. The mediator
found the execution correct.
Another case involved
a leveraged-product trade that was cancelled after a dividend adjustment
resulted in a mispriced execution. The mediator upheld the decision under the
venue’s rules.
Trading Access Delays
A separate case
involved a technical problem that delayed a retail investor’s trading-account
access from April 9 to May 8, 2025.
The investor had
planned to buy shares that rose significantly during the delay. The mediator
secured compensation based on the relevant price difference, rejecting the
broker’s attempt to exclude liability under its general terms.
Crypto Complaints Rise
Complaints involving
crypto-assets increased 38% to 148 cases, although only about 30% were
admissible for mediation.
The main issues
involved accounts being frozen during anti-money-laundering checks and disputes
over transfers to external wallets. The mediator also noted cases where
two-factor authentication had not been activated.
The AMF mediator
linked much of the overall increase to “the entry of cross-border brokers into
France’s PEA market” and “growing retail exposure” to newer investment
products.
This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.
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