As proved by European experience, with a view to protecting the rights of consumers, legal orders of various systems build the consumer legislation on the basis of the concept of protecting the rights of a more disadvantaged, weak party. The essence of the concept is to recognize the consumer as the most unprotected (economically and/or in terms of information) party in the in personam relationship with economic entities which produce goods, perform work, and provide services.

At the general level, the current consumer protection legislation of Ukraine actually upholds the mentioned concept, and its provisions prove that in the relations with economic entities an individual consumer is a weak party, and the legislation establishes certain tools aimed at protecting him/her.

Given the dynamics of development, the breakneck speed of changes (both factual and legislative), the complexity and differentiation of financial service markets (and their division into two large segments: banking and non-banking ones, which, for their part, also should be divided into separate markets), the multiplicity and the specifics of the entities providing the services, in the objective reality there is a need for a proper attitude to the central figure of such relations – the consumer, primarily in the realm of protecting the consumer’s rights and legitimate interests.

The article focuses on determining the range of financial service consumers from the perspective of the place they hold in the legal relations pertaining to provision of financial services, which are formalized by entering into a contract for a financial service of any type; resting upon the provisions of the “reasonable expectations” doctrine, which has been recognized by legal orders of the leading countries worldwide, as the foundation for building the system of protection of the rights of financial service consumers – on formulating of the basic principles of the Concept for the protection of the rights of financial service consumers as a specific scientific model which can further become the basis for the development and adoption of statutes and regulations of different legal force; on the analysis of today’s law application practice relating to the protection of the rights of financial service consumers, with development of the authors’ own evidence-based conclusions at its background; on making of proposals for updating current legislation in the realm of protection of the rights of financial service consumers; on the doctrinal justification of the need to change today’s legal paradigm according to which the rights of financial service consumers are protected.

The authors arrive at the following conclusions: 1) the consumer of financial services is: an individual, an individual entrepreneur, or a legal entity; 2) the consumer may take the position of “a weak party” in the in personam relationship with a financial institution; 3) with the aim of protecting the consumer’s interests in the in personam relationship with a financial institution, the latter should adhere to the principles of fairness, good faith and reasonableness, impossibility for no good reason to burden the consumer with inquiring into the content of a contract, and also sufficient awareness, sufficient care, discretion; 4) the financial service consumer (irrespective of his/her legal status) should be subject to the Law of Ukraine “On Consumer Rights Protection”, and this creates the need for amending the mentioned statutory instrument; 5) the consumer legislation should be based on the doctrine of “reasonable expectations”.