Università Roma Tre

The Small Savers Protection Legal Clinic (SSPLC) provides students with a qualified legal education on the legal framework about consumers and small savers protection in the banking and financial sector, especially as regards the enforcement of their rights and the filing of claims before the "Arbitro Bancario e Finanziario" (ABF - for banking issues) and the “Arbitro delle Controversie Finanziarie” (ACF – for financial issues); builds a network cooperation between academics and professionals; promotes knowledge of alternative methods of dispute resolution within the academic community and amongst.
Specific aims of the SSPLC is to combine both the clinical approach and the ADR promotion.
In Italy, in fact, we have the Banking and Financial Ombudsman (Arbitro Bancario Finanziario, ABF), an out-of-court settlement scheme for disputes between customers and banks and other financial intermediaries, established in 2009 by the Bank of Italy to introduce an alternative mechanism that is faster and less expensive than civil litigation.