China’s banking regulator has issued new rules requiring financial institutions to make video and audio recordings of all investment product sales, saying they were needed to “further regulate market order and protect customer rights”.
The recordings will also help state-owned banks and the government fend off compensation demands from retail customers when their investments turn sour.
“If investors make irrational choices after sales staff have clearly explained the risks, then they will have to accept the consequences,” said Zhao Xijun, a finance professor at Renmin University in Beijing. “In the event there is a dispute, the recordings can be used as evidence.”