Column by Ksenia Dementieva about the meaning of font size in bank advertising

On Wednesday, news agencies unanimously reported the news: the Federal Antimonopoly Service opened a case against Post-Bank on grounds of violation of advertising laws. A citizen complained to the department that a loan advertisement was distributed on displays in Moscow, in which the bank reported an attractive rate of 4% for the Guaranteed Rate service. At the same time, data on the remaining conditions were indicated in a font that was difficult to read for a short time.

On Wednesday, news agencies unanimously reported the news: the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) opened a case against Post-Bank on grounds of violation of advertising laws. A citizen complained to the department that a loan advertisement was distributed on displays in Moscow, in which the bank reported an attractive rate of 4% for the Guaranteed Rate service. At the same time, data on the remaining conditions were indicated in a font that was difficult to read for a short time.

The basis for the publication was the message of the FAS itself. However, it specified that the service would “evaluate the bank’s advertising for violations of the law.” And only in the event of a finding of guilt, the bank faces liability in accordance with the law “On Advertising”. “Post-Bank did not receive a decision from the Federal Antimonopoly Service to open a case on the grounds of violation of the RF legislation on advertising,” they assured.

The story is remarkable in that the described violation is by no means uncommon. It’s just that usually the FAS is in no hurry with messages until a final decision is made on the presence of a credit institution’s fault. Meanwhile, the issue of unscrupulous advertising in the banking sector has been standing for a long time and without any positive changes. Less than a month ago, the head of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina once again drew attention to the problem. The Bank of Russia is concerned about the issue of unfair advertising of loans, when customers are lured with low rates without disclosing the conditions, she said. The regulator recommended disclosing the terms of loans and displaying them no less conspicuously than the low rates themselves.

The Law “On Advertising” provides for fines in accordance with the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Distribution by a credit organization of advertising of services related to the provision of a loan or a loan … containing at least one condition affecting its cost, without specifying all other conditions that determine the full cost of the loan (loan) for the borrower and affect it, entails the imposition of an administrative fine for officials in the amount of 20 thousand to 50 thousand rubles; for legal entities – from 300 thousand to 800 thousand rubles.

However, these measures do not seem to be very effective. In May, the Federal Antimonopoly Service fined two of the largest banks, Sberbank and Otkritie, for the typeface used in advertisements. Moreover, the largest player in the market received only 600 thousand rubles. fine. Against this background, the message about the Post Bank looks like just an unfortunate event, losing the lottery. Why, instead of adapting the law to modern technologies and advertising techniques, as well as, for example, increasing fines, regulators prefer to shoot randomly at individual players, one can only guess.