Governments should set up a consumer group to protect people from dubious mortgages, loans and investments, an international consumer watchdog said yesterday.
James Guest, the vice-president of Consumers International, said a fragmented approach was not the best way to regulate the financial trade.
'There should be a single body to oversee all institutions and to work in the interest of consumers,' he said.
Guest is among 700 delegates from more than 200 consumer bodies attending the Consumers International World Congress, a four-day event at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The congress is urging reforms following the global financial crisis, which cost an estimated 30 million jobs worldwide. Before the bubble burst, consumers were talked into taking out loans and buying into complicated financial products they could not afford or barely understood.
Last year, the congress made a slew of recommendations to G20 finance ministers on ways to better regulate the industry. The subject is top priority at this week's conference.
