Obsessive intent – Newspaper Kommersant No. 37 (7482) dated 03/03/2023

The head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, sharply drew attention to the fact that the practice of imposing services by banks on private clients began to increase this year. According to the regulator, in the fourth quarter of last year, the number of complaints about misselling was the highest in the last year and a half. Human rights activists pay attention to the increase in the share of misselling in complaints, the expansion of the list of products imposed on citizens. If the bankers do not stop making money on the naivety of citizens, the Central Bank promises to take tough measures.

At the annual meeting with bankers organized by the Association of Banks of Russia (ADB), Central Bank Chairman Elvira Nabiullina drew attention to the increase in misselling earlier this year. According to her, during the acute phase of the crisis, banks took a responsible approach to working with clients, but now complaints about unacceptable practices have begun to grow again.

“We would not want to run around the market with a baton (which we have, of course), therefore, I repeat once again, we hope for the prudence of the bankers,” Elvira Nabiullina noted.

By “baton,” she meant the regulator’s right to force a bank to buy back a product sold in violation.

The head of the Central Bank cited several cases where individual large banks used such practices. So, according to her, a pensioner over the age of 80, instead of a deposit, was issued an accumulative life insurance contract with regular contributions of 100 thousand rubles. within five years. She tried to refuse, but … the bank employee made an appointment for her on the date following the day when the cooling period ends and the insurance could be returned without problems.

According to the Bank of Russia, the number of complaints to the regulator about imposed services last year was indeed less than a year earlier – 5.1 thousand against 5.6 thousand. Since the fourth quarter of 2020, this figure has indeed been decreasing, but starting from the third quarter began to grow and in the fourth quarter reached the level of 1.4 thousand – this is the highest figure in the last six quarters.

As Yevgenia Lazareva, head of the ONF project “For the Borrower’s Rights,” told Kommersant, in 2022, the number of complaints about unfair sales in general and misselling in particular amounted to 56.3% of the total number received by the ONF. “Previously, the bulk of consumer claims were related to imposed credit insurance, property insurance when paying utility bills and postal orders, the sale of investment life insurance and housing insurance policies, shares of mutual funds instead of deposits,” says Evgenia Lazareva.

“Last year, this list included some additional legal support programs, the inclusion of an auto payment function with commissions, card products with loyalty programs instead of debit cards, and anti-fraud insurance,” continues Ms. Lazareva. In her opinion, the regulator’s warnings are not too convincing for the market – and the figures confirm this, therefore, the ONF sees the salvation of the consumer in tightening supervision and introducing the practice of buying back products that are “sold” to consumers in this way.

Fearing “tightening the screws” on the part of the Central Bank, Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma’s financial committee, suggested that the ADB think about how to deal with misseling within the framework of the merger. According to ADB Vice President Alexei Voylukov, since 2019, the association, in cooperation with the Central Bank, has developed a standard for the provision of services to prevent misselling. “We cannot force it to be observed, but 20 banks have voluntarily joined it,” he says.

“We cannot apply material sanctions. But giving such violations publicity affects the business reputation of the bank, which can sometimes cost much more than material damage,” says Mr. Voylukov.

In order not to get into a situation with misseling, lawyers recommend being careful when concluding a contract. According to Andrey Shagi, Managing Partner of SHAGI Law Firm, as a rule, the main difficulties are caused by additional insurance, the cost of which may exceed all other costs of the loan, formally it is possible to refuse insurance, but this often leads to a significant increase in the loan rate. The expert notes that in the case of imposing a service or product, you can not only return the money for it, but also receive compensation for moral damage. “The very fact of selling an additional service does not create grounds for recovering compensation for moral damage, but the case of refusal to return funds when such a service is refused is a violation of consumer rights and allows such compensation to be recovered,” he explains.

However, according to Evgenia Lazareva, surveys show that approximately 95% of consumers believe that contracts and other documents must be read and understood before signing, but only half of them (52%) confirm that they really manage to do this in practice. “All conditions have been created in branches and offices to make it psychologically uncomfortable for the client to spend time studying the terms of the contract and other documents,” she explains.

Maxim Buylov, Olga Sherunkova