The institute for financial services, iff, is an independent non-for profit organisation which was founded in 1987. IFF offers research and services in the fields of economy, law, sociology and education, debt advice, consumer protection, social responsibility and customer friendliness. In this respect iff is positioned on the crossroads of consumer interests and provider interests, of consumer protection and customer orientation. Clients are national and international public institutions, consumer and social organisations, banks and insurance companies. IFF is financed only by its income from projects and products and does not receive any public subsidies. Its research is independent from financial services providers.

The institute has extensive experience with pan European projects, consumer testing, legal comparative studies, and collaboration with European consumer organisations and financial service stakeholder groups. It has also considerable experience on mortgage credit including previous research conducted for the European Commission on the voluntary Code of Conduct on Pre-contractual Information for Home Loans.

Iff has encouraged and promoted both dialogue between stakeholders of credit and debt (i.e. providers and consumers) and between European consumer groups and legal academics from the different EU Member States by organising international events which have attracted some national regulators to its conferences.

Iff has been providing a legal service to consumer organisations throughout Germany for the past 20 years (often based on answers to their legal questions received). Furthermore, the iff database www.money-advice.net contains a wealth of critical information, legal analysis, jurisprudence and literature relating to financial services (over 40,000 entries).