How business will support citizens after the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall
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In the first two days after the terrorist attack at Crocus, many Russian companies and banks took some form of action to support the victims and citizens in general, or at least announced such plans. The bankers’ words about their readiness to settle debts look most serious. A number of companies are promising direct financial assistance to victims. However, despite the ubiquity of the statements, what they will mean in practice and to whom they will apply is not entirely clear. The actions of transport companies that allow citizens to return tickets or already transport relatives and friends of victims for free seem more definite.
After the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall on March 22, 12 of 13 systemically important banks (it was not possible to find out the position of Unicredit Bank Kommersant) announced plans to support the victims. Some banks announced this publicly, some told Kommersant. In one form or another, debt write-off is directly discussed in VTB (including Otkrytie), Alfa Bank, Tinkoff Bank, MKB, Sovcombank, Rosbank, PSB, Gazprombank, Uralsib, St. Petersburg Bank, Pochta- bank, MTS bank and others.
The largest bank in the country, Sberbank, has a more cautious position, promising to contact “the client or his legal representatives and discuss the procedure for assistance.” An employee of the bank’s call center clarified to Kommersant that write-off is possible “in connection with death,” and in other cases we are talking about “settlement.” The press service clarified that “they are working with information received from authorized bodies – lists of those killed and injured as a result of the terrorist attack.” They explained that by “help” they mean “writing off all debt or another option suitable for each specific case.” “The decision will be made individually, taking into account the health status of the victim,” says Sberbank.
The situation looks least certain for the victims and their families – not all banks are ready to explain who exactly belongs to this category. VTB, Tinkoff Bank, Sovcombank, Alfa Bank, MKB, Gazprombank, PSB, Rosbank, Bank St. Petersburg, Ingosstrakh Bank, Pochta Bank, HKF Bank directly promise to write off the debts of such citizens. Alfa Bank is ready to write off loans to the “closest relatives of the victims,” and MKB, Ingosstrakh Bank and Pochta Bank to “the families of the victims.” Uralsib promised “credit holidays” to the victims (for up to six months; no interest will be charged). MTS Bank and Raiffeisenbank talk about “individual solutions”.
Sovcombank described the procedure for obtaining support most clearly and in detail. There, Kommersant explained that they are guided by the lists of victims and deaths from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the authorities of Moscow and the Moscow region: “If the client was injured, but was not hospitalized and did not receive outpatient care, we will consider each case individually.” The bank will consider family members of the victims to be relatives of the first circle according to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation: mother, father, husband, wife, son and daughter.
Technically, Sovcombank explained, the debt will be written off entirely at the bank’s expense. If the client is on the lists of victims or dead, then the employees themselves will contact him or his relatives: “If the victim is not on the lists, he can contact the call center and submit an oral statement in free form, which the bank will consider on an individual basis.”
VTB clarified that victims, “upon receipt of the necessary official documents,” in addition to debt forgiveness, can receive other support tools – restructuring, credit holidays or additional measures to reduce the financial burden: “The decision will be made personally and depending on the client’s health situation.” The timing of the settlement, VTB clarified, depends on the data received and official supporting documents, but “the bank aims to do everything quickly.”
Write-off involves the complete zeroing of the debt; technically, for this purpose, a 100 percent reserve is formed from the bank’s current income (profit before tax), explains Denis Taradov, partner of the Unicon audit and consulting group. “What documents are needed is decided by the bank itself,” said Dmitry Kletochkin, partner of the law firm Rustam Kurmaev and Partners. “The creditor draws up an act recognizing the debt as bad, and the obligations are covered by the reserve. The decision to form a 100% reserve is formalized by professional judgment. For this, a death certificate or a certificate of injury as a result of a terrorist attack will be sufficient,” believes Evgenia Lazareva, head of the Popular Front project “For Borrowers’ Rights.”
Experts note that theoretically, the Central Bank could offer general measures of financial support, but Mr. Taradov considers this unlikely. At the same time, Sergei Uchitel, a partner at the Pen & Paper Bar Association, considers it right “to avoid abuse on both sides” to formalize the mechanism normatively.
The head of the Center for Law and Order in Moscow and the Moscow Region, Alexander Khaminsky, clarifies that the measure proposed by banks in civil law is called debt forgiveness and is regulated by the provisions of Art. 415 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation: “To implement it, the bank must formulate and publish a public offer, setting out all the essential conditions.”
Microfinance specialists are also preparing support measures: on March 23, SRO “MiR” sent out a recommendation to all members to write off debts to the victims. “We have not yet had time to receive feedback from all microfinance organizations. But we are confident that the sector will support the initiative in full,” the organization explained. The largest insurers (SOGAZ, Ingosstrakh, RESO-Garantiya, VSK, Rosgosstrakh, Sberstrakhovanie and Yugoria) announced a simplified and accelerated settlement of losses for policyholders and their loved ones affected by the terrorist attack, within the framework of VHI, accident insurance, etc. SOGAZ promises a simplified settlement “for vehicles damaged at the scene of the tragedy,” including free evacuation of the car.
The association of collectors NAPKA told Kommersant that in order to write off a debt, it is enough to provide “any documents that can be used to accurately and completely identify the debtor as a victim of a terrorist attack.” After this, changes will be made to your credit history by providing a certificate.
Companies from various industries also announced their readiness to provide financial support to the victims and families of the victims. A number of large retailers promise to donate part of their daily revenue for these purposes: this was reported, in particular, by the M.Video-Eldorado group, Fix Price, Vkusville, and Azbuka Vkusa. The companies do not specify the distribution mechanism and the amount of allocated funds.
The restaurateurs decided to send the day’s profits to a special charity account of the Russian Red Cross, which supports victims of the terrorist attack. This was reported by the teams developing the Boston, Torro Grill and Magnun establishments.
“Tasty – period,” “Samokat” and “Kitchen in the area” provided food and drinks to donors who stood in line at Moscow blood transfusion centers this weekend.
Transport companies offered support to the victims’ relatives. Thus, Aeroexpress reimbursed the cost of travel on its trains and express buses on March 22–24. Russian Railways announced free transportation of relatives of victims and victims to Moscow and from Moscow. The monopoly will also accept victims free of charge into its rehabilitation centers of the Russian Railways-Medicine network to organize a full range of recovery procedures.
Airlines, including Aeroflot, S7, Ural Airlines, Red Wings, Nordwind and Smartavia, also announced their readiness to transport victims, their relatives and loved ones free of charge on flights to and from Moscow. Smartavia clarified that no complaints have been received yet; another airline is talking about the same thing. However, S7 says that “there are requests and tickets are issued based on them.”
Aeroexpress also announced refunds for purchased tickets to passengers whose plans changed due to the tragedy. JSC Russian Railways offered all passengers a free return of tickets until March 26 inclusive. Grand Service Express (operator of long-distance trains in communication with Crimea) did the same.
Aeroflot reported that all passengers will be able to reissue tickets for the next three days from the original departure date until March 25 inclusive, or get a full refund in case of a forced return.
The airlines do not specify how actively citizens refuse to travel. Russian Railways reported that “there was a one-time surge on Saturday, the increase in refunds more than doubled, but now the situation has stabilized, tickets are being returned as usual.”
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