The Provincial Court of Las Palmas, in a judgment of October 20, 2017, has ruled on a matter in which we defended a securities company acting as an online broker in front of one of its clients that, operating with derivative financial products, he had left a considerable unpaid debt.

The most interesting part of this resolution is that it condemns the client to pay the contractual interest agreed upon at 18% per annum, rejecting his claim that the clause be declared null and void in accordance with the Consumer and Users Law.

Despite the fact that multiple judgments have considered as consumers those citizens who acquire shares linked to the evolution of the markets, the Court has considered in this case that the client of this type of complex financial products that acts daily in the markets does not fit into the definition of consumer of the Law.

In addition, the Court also understands that these contracts with derivatives are far from being similar to the consumer loan contracts which are the basis of the majority of judgments to declare as abusive this type of clauses, even if they contain a clause on high interest rates to discourage the client from leaving uncovered amounts.