“Such an agency would play an integral right in protecting interests of consumers, through receiving their complaints and then solving the disputes that erupt between them and the financial institutions that they deal with,” she said. 

Hassan, who was speaking at a panel organized by Consumers Lebanon on the relation between financial institutions and consumers, said that both financial bodies and consumers should improve their performance and increase transparency to avoid disputes and protect their mutual rights.

Hassan said that financial institutions should be more transparent in disclosing the real interest rates, and other expenses in any contract. She called on consumers to tap the consumer protection law before signing any contract.”

Speaking at the same conference, the Minister of Tourism, Fadi Abboud, called on financial institutions to be more transparent in their work vowing on them to “explain to people the mechanisms they approach in determining interest rates."

Minister Adnan Kassar highlighted the importance of the relation between consumers and banks which he defined as “fundamental”. The minister said that financial bodies are committed to supporting consumers through “financing establishment of healthcare centers, promoting equality between men and women, financing environmental studies, and other activities.”

Zuhair Berro, the President of Consumers Lebanon, said that there is a need to find new initiatives to protect consumers. one of the suggestions presented by Berro was “establishing a center that receives complaints of consumers and offers financial consultancy to people, similar to ones that already exist in the United Kingdom and other European markets. “