Stumbling Commissions – Finance – Kommersant

The State Duma plans to adopt a bill prohibiting taking a commission for transfers to oneself to another bank in amounts up to 1.4 million rubles. per month. Representatives of the financial community greeted this initiative ambiguously – some of them believe that it will increase the level of competition in the market and allow citizens to freely manage money, and some are sure that it will lead to a loss of a significant part of income and additional costs. The latter propose to think over a mechanism for compensating the bank’s losses, and ideally, to reject the bill altogether.

Today, a bill prohibiting banks from taking commissions for transfers of individual clients up to 1.4 million rubles can be considered in the first reading. per month to their accounts in other banks. The explanatory note to the bill states that this measure is necessary to “suppress the possibility of credit institutions creating restrictive conditions for the free movement of funds between banks by individuals.” At the same time, it is assumed that without commission it will be possible to transfer the specified amount in any way – from card to card, from account to account, through the SBP.

One of the authors of the bill, the head of the financial committee of the State Duma, Anatoly Aksakov, expressed confidence that the law would be adopted in the near future. At the same time, according to him, banks will suffer some losses as a result, but they will not be too large. The Bank of Russia also noted that this will allow the client to find the most profitable offer for the reallocation of funds and safely transfer the required amount.

“This is what promotes healthy competition between banks, and not attempts to keep the client, burdening him with additional commissions,” the Central Bank said.

The initiative was also supported by some representatives of the financial market. Thus, Tinkoff Bank reported that the ban on charging commissions should apply to all transfers through the payment system of the Bank of Russia. “This measure will provide clients with free management of their funds, free movement of money between banks, and will also contribute to the development of competition,” the bank is sure. As Alma Obayeva, Chairman of the Board of the National Payments Council, explains, “this is assistance to the population in the issue of freedom of choice: the client is interested in one bank as a salary bank, another as a bank with many bonuses and a good loyalty program when paying with cards, a third one with a high deposit rate, and a physical a person wants to freely move his funds between these banks without paying commissions.

However, not all representatives of the banking community agree with this approach. The National Council of the Financial Market (NSFR) wrote a letter to the State Duma with a request to reject the bill. As Andrey Yemelin, the head of the NSFR, explained, this document, in fact, deprives banks of legitimate profits from a commercial operation to transfer funds. At the same time, the transfer is planned to be made free for the client, but the bank will still pay the Central Bank for the transfer. In addition, according to him, the costs of banks associated with the modernization of software will increase significantly, the burden on ensuring the protection of information and countering transactions without the consent of the client will also increase. “As a result of the adoption of this law, banks will be forced to look for ways to compensate for the additional costs that have arisen by raising tariffs for other operations, reducing interest on savings accounts or worsening conditions in loyalty programs,” Mr. Yemelin is sure.

Alexey Voylukov, Vice President of the Association of Banks of Russia, also noted that the unilateral cancellation of the commission when transferring funds on behalf of an individual in the amount of 1.4 million rubles. between their accounts in different credit institutions cannot be supported without the development of compensatory measures to cover the emerging additional costs of banks. At the same time, according to him, the establishment of an increased threshold for transfers without commission does not require legislative changes, since it fully fits into the powers of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank in the same way as the limit of free transfers of 100 thousand rubles was set. through SBP. “The introduction of free transfers between the accounts of one client will require additional investments from banks and significant improvements in automated banking systems,” says Alexey Voylukov. In addition, according to him, as a result of the adoption of this law, large banks will feel the loss of profits to a greater extent, and the cost of modernizing the system will be most tangible for small and medium-sized banks.

According to the Bank of Russia, in the second quarter of 2022, citizens’ transfers amounted to 17.8 trillion rubles, of which 2.8 trillion rubles. (slightly more than 900 billion rubles per month) accounted for transfers through the FPS, thus transfers from account to account and from card to card accounted for 15 trillion rubles. (5 trillion rubles per month). According to experts, in terms of the number of transfers through the SBP, more than 90% account for amounts up to 100 thousand rubles, but in terms of volume, about half of the transferred funds do not fit into the limit and pass with a commission of 0.5% (no more than 1,500 rubles). As for card transfers and transfers on accounts between banks, almost all of them are carried out with a commission of at least 1%. Thus, in the second quarter of this year, according to experts, banks could earn tens of billions of rubles on commissions for transfers of individuals. What proportion of these commissions falls on transfers to oneself to another bank is unknown, but, according to representatives of the banking community, it is quite significant, therefore, we can talk about the loss of several billion, if not tens of billions of rubles a month by credit organizations.

Maxim Buylov