Finland's Financial Supervisory Authority to supervise credit purchasers and credit servicers under new Act implementing the EU NPL Directive

Finland's Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) announced that credit purchasers and credit servicers will come under its conduct supervision under the newly adopted Act on Credit Purchasers and Credit Servicers, which implements Directive (EU) 2021/2167 on credit servicers and credit purchasers (the NPL Directive). The Act covers the purchase and servicing of credit institutions’ non-performing credits. Credit servicers will need to apply to the FIN-FSA for authorisation to provide credit servicing activities unless they already have the right to do so through another authorisation or registration. It also introduces notification obligations for credit purchasers and credit servicers, as well as new notification obligations for credit institutions, while noting that the Consumer Protection Act also applies to purchased credits and credits serviced on behalf of the purchaser in consumer cases. The Act is due to enter into force on a date to be set in connection with ratification and includes a transitional provision applicable to debt collectors. FIN-FSA has published information on the new obligations and the credit servicer authorisation process, and has updated its notifications section to reflect the new reporting requirements.