The Complaint Board of Danish Securities and Brokering Companies is approved under the Danish Act on Consumer Complaints (lov om forbrugerklager) to handle complaints against securities and brokering companies.
The Complaint Board was set up on 1 April 2004 by the Danish Securities and Brokering Companies Association (Den Danske Fondsmæglerforening) and the Danish Consumer Council Think (Forbrugerrådet Tænk).
The Complaint Board handles complaints concerning private customer relationships. The Complaint Board may handle complaints from businesses if the complaints do not differ significantly from complaints concerning private customer relationships. The Complaint Board does not handle complaints submitted by companies.
The Complaint Board handles complaints against securities and brokering companies established in Denmark. The Complaint Board may handle complaints against a securities and brokering company established in a foreign country if the matter is associated more closely with Denmark than with the country of establishment, or if the parties agree thereon.
A complaint against a securities and brokering company established in Denmark or in any other country may be refused if the case is more associated to another country.
Your complaint may concern all aspects of the relationship between the securities and brokering company and you. However, the Complaint Board does not handle complaints regarding matters such as the conduct of an employee, the marketing practices of the securities and brokering company or other general issues.
Your complaint may also concern matters that took place before an actual customer relationship was established.
The Complaint Board may refuse to handle your complaint if the complaint concerns a transaction exceeding 500,000 DKK, or if the market value of your personally owned portfolio of securities at the relevant market exceeds 5 m DKK at the time of filing the complaint.
The Complaint Board may refuse to handle your complaint if it does not concern a specific financial dispute.
If you want to complain against a securities and brokering company's disregard of the rules on Good Business Practice for Financial Undertakings (Executive Order no. 1094 of 14 September 2015), you must submit a complaint to the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanstilsynet, Århusgade 110, 2100 Copenhagen Ø). Find more details at www.finanstilsynet.dk.
The Complaint Board refuses to handle complaints that have already been decided by a court of law. For other grounds for refusal, see articles 3-6 of the Statutes of the Complaint Board here.
Before submitting a complaint to the Complaint Board, you must have complained to the securities and brokering company and had your complaint dismissed, received an unsatisfactory answer or no answer to your complaint within five weeks of the securities and brokering company’s receipt of your complaint. All securities and brokering companies have a complaints manager. Your securities and brokering company can inform you who this person is.
You can submit the complaint and the case documents in Danish or English. The complaint will be handled digitally.
When you are ready to submit your complaint, you fill in a complaint form via the Complaint Board’s website. You must pay a complaint fee of DKK 200. If you complain online, you can pay the fee of DKK 200 with the Danish credit card Dankort. You may also make a bank transfer of the amount to the Complaint Board’s account, Reg.No. 3001 60071276. SWIFT – BIC: DABADKKK, IBAN: DK 02300000600712 76.
We will repay you the fee if you succeed with your complaint in full or in part, if you withdraw your complaint or if the Complaint Board cannot handle your complaint.
We have planned the complaints procedure so that you do not need to retain a lawyer or legal adviser.
However, you may at any time decide to seek independent advice or be represented or assisted by a third party. If you choose to retain a lawyer to act on your behalf, you should note that neither party must pay costs to the other party in relation to the complaints procedure.
Click here to submit a complaint.
If you cannot submit your complaint via the Danish Securities and Brokering Companies Association's website, you can contact the Complaint Board’s secretariat on tel. no. +45 35 43 63 33. Telephone hours Monday-Friday 9:30 am to 12:30 pm, or send an e-mail to sek@fanke.dk.
Unless you are an attorney, you have to present a Power of Attorney if you complain on behalf of another person
Once the preparatory stage of the processing has been completed, the Complaint Board handles your complaint at a Complaint Board meeting.
You must submit the details of your complaint in writing and upload them to the Complaint Board’s complaint portal which you will be able to access immediately after your case has been opened.
You can send your complaint and the case documents in Danish or English. Your complaint will be handled in Danish and the decision will similarly be drawn up in Danish.
The average complaint processing time depends on how long the preparation takes. Once all information relating to the case has been become available, the Complaint Board expects to make a decision within 90 days. The average processing time is currently six months from the date a complaint was submitted.
The parties are not bound by the Complaint Board’s decision. However, if the decision is not in the securities and brokering company’s favour, the securities and brokering company must notify the Complaint Board within 30 days of the date on which notice of the decision was given to the securities and investment company if it does not intend to comply with the decision. If the securities and brokering company does nothing within 30 days of being given notice of the decision, you can have the decision enforced against the company.
If the securities and brokering company does not want to comply with the decision, the Complaint Board will notify you about this and you will also be informed about your options for taking the complaint to court, including the possibility of having the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority at Nævnenes Hus, Toldboden 2, 8800 Viborg, telephone +45 72 40 56 00, e-mail: nh@naevneneshus.dk, take the complaint to court on your behalf and the possibilities for enforcing the decision.
If you do not succeed with your complaint, you will, when relevant, be advised about the possibilities for having the case re-opened or how to take it to court. You should note that your complaint may become time-barred if you institute any proceedings later than one year after the Complaint Board’s decision.
At this website you may find all decisions made by the Complaint Board.
Read more about the enforcement possibilities here.
Complaints are handled digitally. When filing a complaint, you are granted access to the complaint portal where you may follow the handling of the case.
Manual for complainants here.
The chairmanship of the Complaint Board is composed of a Supreme Court Judge (chairman) and two vice chairmen, a High Court Judge and a City Court judge, respectively.
The Danish Securities and Brokering Companies Association and the Danish Consumer Council Think appoint the other members of the Complaint Board. A list of the members of the Complaint Board can be seen here.
The members of the Complaint Board are appointed for a term of three years and are eligible for reappointment.
ODR platform
Financial dispute resolution in the EU and the European Economic Area:
The Complaint Board of Danish Securities and Brokering Companies is a registered dispute resolution body and listed on the European Commission’s alternative dispute resolution website (ADR bodies).
On the online dispute resolution platform (ODR platform) you will find a complete list of all approved ADR bodies in the EU.
Please find the ODR platform here.
The Complaint Board’s cross border cooperation
The secretariat is member of a Scandinavian and European network (FIN-NET). The secretariat is also a member of the global ombudsman-network (INFO).
The networks cooperate in cross-border disputes. If a consumer in one country has a dispute with a financial services provider from another country, FIN-NET members will put the consumer in touch with the relevant complaint body and provide the necessary information.