The Investor Ombudsman of the Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia Stock Exchanges is responsible for safeguarding the proper conduct of transactions carried out on the Stock Exchange, reviewing and dealing with the complaints and claims that any person or entity may address to the Investor Ombudsman in relation to these transactions and the actions directly related to them.
Below are the different ways of submitting complaints to the four stock exchanges, their respective contact channels for this procedure, and information on the processing of personal data.
How to file a complaint
Complaints must be signed by the person making the complaint. There are no verbal complaints, although there are consultations, outlining the basic facts on which your challenge is based and the persons or entities concerned. They can take any form, a simple letter accompanied by the available documents is sufficient. If further information is required, it will be requested from the interested parties. The Office of the Investor Ombudsman will acknowledge receipt of each complaint and assign it a sequential number to identify the file.
The Ombudsman will check whether it fall under his or her area of competence and, if so, will inform the claimant of its admission for processing and of the commencement of the appropriate proceedings to investigate and resolve the matter in question.
To the contrary, if it is not considered to fall within its area of competence, in order to follow the established procedure, it is considered that part of its powers is to provide information on the clarification of the facts to advise the the complainant regarding the channels or bodies to which they may have recourse. The basic approach is to attend to the person addressing the Ombudsman.
Once the complaint has been admitted, the procedure begins, and essentially follows the stages listed below:
- request for additional documents and data submitted by the complainant, should the Office of the Investor Ombudsman deem it necessary in order to clarify points insufficiently explained,
- transfer of the documentation sent by the interested party to the entity or entities concerned, in order for them to submit their pleadings,
- communication to the complainant of these replies from the entity concerned, should they provide any elements of opinion that are appropriate for the proceedings and, where appropriate, new arguments from the claimant, and from the entity concerned. The second stage of the pleadings procedure is conditional on their timeliness. Interested parties may submit new pleadings at any time.
The Investor Ombudsman may request the assistance of the Departments of the Madrid Stock Exchange and Sociedad de Bolsas in requesting information. The preparation of the Final Report terminates the procedure, if no agreement is reached beforehand. The procedure is confidential and free of charge.
To file a complaint please contact us by:
- Email: protectorbolsamadrid@grupobme.es
- Postal address: INVESTOR OMBUDSMAN Madrid Stock Exchange. Plaza de la Lealtad 1. 28014 MADRID.
- Telephone number for information: +34 91 589 1184
- At an earlier stage of the proceedings, the Market Supervision and Information Department will deal with investors' queries and complaints, although these will need to be recorded in writing if they are to be raised again with the Investor Ombudsman.
- Complaints submitted to the Investor Ombudsman must be made in writing and duly signed, stating the name and surname, ID number, address, e-mail address, as well as the facts substantiating the complaint. The letter may be accompanied by any documents supporting the complaint.
- The time limit for submitting complaints to the Investor Ombudsman will be one year from the date on which the events giving rise to the complaint occurred.
- Once a complaint has been accepted for processing, the Investor Ombudsman will forward a copy of the complaints and documents submitted to the representative body of the institution that is the subject of the complaint.
Once the response has been formulated by the respondent entity and forwarded to the investor, a new round of pleadings will be held to ensure that each party can reply to the arguments of the other party.
The following complaints are excluded:
- complaints that are or become subject to judicial or arbitration proceedings or to any other official or private body for the protection of consumers, users, clients, shareholders or investors after they have been submitted to the Investor Ombudsman.
- complaints pending or brought to the attention of the National Securities Markets Commission, the Bank of Spain's Complaints Service.
- complaints involving persons or entities other than the interested party, the Barcelona Stock Exchange or its members.
- complaints relating to transactions whose processing and resolution cause or are likely to cause damages to third parties.
The Investor Ombudsman may request the assistance of the Departments of the Sociedad Rectora and Sociedad de Bolsas in requesting information. The preparation of the Final Report terminates the procedure, if no agreement is reached beforehand. The procedure is confidential and free of charge.
The steps for filing a complaint with the Office of the Investor Ombudsman at the Bilbao Stock Exchange are set out in Articles 5, 6 and 7 of Circular 2/2021 of 26 March of this Stock Exchange.
Circular 2/2021 (Spanish Only)
Steps to file a complain:
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Before filing a claim with the Investor Protector, it will be necessary to initiate a PREVIOUS PHASE in which the interested party must contact the claimed entity requesting the information and corrective measures deemed pertinent to repair the damage caused. If the entity does not provide the information or does not proceed to solve the problem within 30 days, the claimant may address his claim to the Ombudsman .
The following claims are excluded:
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Claims that deal with operations carried out through Stock Exchanges other than the Valencia Stock Exchange.
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Claims that deal with operations whose processing and resolution cause or may cause damage to third parties.
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Claims that are submitted or are submitted after their formulation before the Investor Protector, to judicial or arbitration proceedings or to any other instance, whether official or private, for the protection of consumers, users, clients, shareholders or investors.
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Claims that are pending or submitted to the National Securities Market Commission, the Claims Service of the Bank of Spain or the Valencian Institute of Finance.
The term for filing claims with the Investor Ombudsman is three months from the date on which the events giving rise to the claim occurred. The calculation of said period will be interrupted when the interested party reliably proves that they have started the Preliminary Phase and will resume at the moment in which the requested entity provides the information or adopts the required measures and, failing that, at the end of the 30-day period available to do so.
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The written claim before the Investor Ombudsman of the Valencia Stock Exchange must be accompanied by all the documentation provided, where appropriate, by the entity claimed in the Preliminary Phase, as well as that which proves the veracity of the foregoing or serves as a basis for claimant's claim.