Woman blacklisted for lending to individuals sues Estonian FSA
A person who offered loans to individuals has caught the attention of the Financial Supervision Authority and is seeking justice in court to have a warning related to their activities removed from the authority's website.
The Tallinn Administrative Court is hearing a case in which Mari-Liis Michelson, who had been offering loans to private individuals, is demanding that the Financial Supervision Authority (FSA) declare unlawful and remove the warning notice published on its website, which suggests that Michelson is operating as an unlicensed credit provider. During Monday's hearing, the judge set the date for the court's ruling.
The dispute stems from a notice the FSA published on its website on March 27 of this year.
Michelson had been offering loans through a now-defunct website, eraisiklaenab.ee, and the FSA determined that she should have had a license for such activities. However, Michelson interprets the law differently.
Earlier reports by Postimees described how Michelson initially began offering loans on Facebook and later through her own website, but did not believe it was necessary to apply for a license. According to her, a license is only required if issuing consumer credit is the primary source of income.
In February of this year, after providing loans to seven individuals and earning €400 in interest, Michelson received an inquiry from the FSA, asking how her activities aligned with the Creditors and Credit Intermediaries Act (KAVS) and how many loans she had issued, and to whom.
Michelson, through her legal counsel, responded to the FSA's inquiry. However, the FSA did not reply to her response and instead published the aforementioned warning on its website, declaring her an unlicensed credit provider.
Michelson's representative submitted a request to the FSA to remove the warning, arguing that no evidence had been provided to support the claim of unlicensed financial services. At the same time, Michelson ceased offering loans.
The FSA refused to remove the warning, stating that Michelson did not understand the illegality of her actions. Following this, Michelson turned to the Tallinn Administrative Court.
Meanwhile, the FSA has not taken any action regarding Jaak Roosaare, who facilitated the transfer of millions of euros in small investors' funds to the struggling startup Planet42. The FSA justified this by stating that Roosaare's activities do not fall under their supervision.
In a post on the FSA's website, Siim Tammer, a member of the FSA's management board, posed the question of whether we want a state where every government agency assumes that everyone is constantly breaking the law and monitors them everywhere – or perhaps not.
Tammer emphasized that the FSA's mandate is to focus primarily on entities under financial supervision, i.e., those to whom they have issued licenses, and on specific activities for which a license or authorization has been applied for.
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Editor: Karin Koppel, Marcus Turovski