The AMF Chairman Robert Ophèle has informed the public that Marielle Cohen-Branche will start her third term as Ombudsman on 12 November 2018.
In 2011 the AMF strengthened its role as a regulator in investor compensation by appointing an Ombudsman, reporting directly to the Chairman and assisted by a dedicated team. Marielle Cohen-Branche thus began her first term as Ombudsman.
With the European directive on the alternative resolution of consumer disputes having entered into force in France on 1 January 2016, on 13 January of the same year Marielle Cohen-Branche became the first ombudsman authorised by the French consumer mediation regulatory and supervision authority, CECMC. The Ombudsman herself was henceforth responsible for the mediation duties of the AMF, previously assigned to the institution. Marielle Cohen-Branche was reappointed in November 2015 for a further three-year term as the sole public ombudsman for the handling of consumer finance disputes. That three-year period having come to an end, her term has now been renewed.
Presenting her 2017 annual report in May, Marielle Cohen-Branche addressed a key point in her mediation work: the strong and continuous acceptance of the recommendations issued (96%), year after year, reflecting the general satisfaction of both parties, investors and professionals alike.
This point illustrates the degree of the Ombudsman’s success in her primary role of resolving disputes amicably and definitively, regardless of whether the opinion is favourable or unfavourable. Marielle Cohen-Branche intends to pursue this mission in her new term.