Alexandru Petrescu, ASF President: "The imagination of those who commit financial fraud is very rich"

Consumers must inform themselves before making transactions or financial purchases online, as the imagination of those who commit fraud in this field is very rich, said yesterday Alexandru Petrescu, President of the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF), during a press conference hosted by BNR.

Alexandru Petrescu declared: "The digitization of financial services and products needs a thorough financial education. The two concepts are interdependent and must support each other, because otherwise we will never be able to talk about real success in terms of implementing technologies in the financial area. Consumers should inform themselves thoroughly before making transactions or financial purchases online, as the imagination of those who commit fraud in this area is very rich. They, in turn, take advantage of the effervescence on this market, but also of the development of technologies to implement their fraudulent schemes. That's why I think that through financial education we will be able to be one step ahead and defuse many of the fraud attempts that we keep hearing about".

The President of the ASF added: "Beyond financial education, we will also need a redesign of the way we regulate and supervise the financial market. As a regulator and supervisor, we need to keep up with new technologies and constantly update all our tools so that we can meet the challenges that come with all things fintech or artificial intelligence. Online transactions today have a completely different dimension compared to twenty years ago. That's why a modern, flexible, efficient legislative framework is needed, which gives total transparency to this chapter of online transactions".

According to the ASF representative, the authority is working on a series of legislative changes that will allow it to instantly block any site that promotes fraudulent investments. "The money of those who invest online or purchase financial services via the Internet must be completely safe at all times. On the other hand, to have a highly effective prudential supervision, it is necessary to have an approach deeply anchored in digital. And here I am referring to software programs and IT solutions that provide us, in real time, with a faithful picture of the risks on all three markets that we regulate in order to prevent systemic problems", said Alexandru Petrescu.