Bank commissions for transfers from companies to citizens were proposed to be legally limited

Deputies decided to legislatively limit the commission for the transfer of funds from a legal entity to individuals by the level of tariffs for transfers between legal entities. The author of the project claims that the commissions differ hundreds of times and banks receive excess profits with their help. Bankers, for their part, criticize the document, emphasizing that current legislation prohibits the introduction of increased commissions for such transfers, and interference in the regulation of tariffs only leads to an increase in the cost of services for clients.

A bill has been submitted to the State Duma that establishes the amount of the commission for non-cash transfers from legal entities to individuals, not exceeding the commission for transfers between legal entities.

The explanatory note states that now legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, when transferring funds to the accounts of individuals, pay commissions to banks in the amount of 2–15% if the average amount exceeds 200 thousand rubles. accumulated amount for the month. At the same time, commissions for transferring funds between the accounts of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs “are 20–100 rubles. per transaction, regardless of the accumulated amount or frequency of transfers per month.”

According to the deputies, charging such different fees for transactions of the same type (non-cash transfer) cannot be justified economically or in the fight against money laundering (Part 2 of Article 4 of the Law on Laundering).

As the author of the bill, deputy Vladislav Reznik, explained to Kommersant, it turns out that banks, “countering dubious transactions with increased commissions, actually participate in them for an increased fee,” and the Central Bank does not prevent this.

The deputies believe that credit organizations act in bad faith and make excess profits from “their legal status” (as the only organizations conducting non-cash payments). They propose to establish a commission for transfers from a legal entity in favor of an individual at a level no higher than the commission for transfers between legal entities.

Lawyers confirm that the practice is widespread and bank clients have recently been trying to challenge increased fees in the courts (see “Kommersant” dated October 4). According to Vasily Sosnovsky, partner of the Genesis law firm, the courts noted that the commission charged by the bank is not a payment for services (Article 851 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), but a measure of responsibility, since there are no other services other than those specified in the tariff plan for the services for checking documents by the bank , when a commission is calculated at a rate of 10%, it does not appear. Banks explain such high tariffs “as a measure of compliance with the provisions of the anti-money laundering law,” the lawyer adds.

Bankers predictably criticize the bill.

Deputy Head of the National Financial Market Council Alexander Naumov assured that increased commissions are applied depending on the essence and content of transactions, as well as the bank’s expenses for their administration. “Commissions related to the length of time the funds are in the account are common, for example, if the client received funds from another organization non-cash and immediately tries to cash them out. Also, if the client does not have a salary project, then the bank can set a limit for withdrawing the amount from the account without a commission, and above the limit – with a commission,” explains Mr. Naumov.

According to the vice-president of the Association of Russian Banks, Alexei Voylukov, there is already a law prohibiting taking increased commissions for transfers from legal entities to individuals as part of the fight against cashing out funds. “However, instead of looking into it and understanding why it doesn’t work, another law is being adopted, which will only increase bank commissions for transfers between legal entities,” emphasizes Mr. Voylukov. Alexander Naumov is confident that “market mechanisms and competition mechanisms themselves can cope with such situations quite well.”

Maxim Builov