The mechanism for paying compensation to victims of fraudsters is waiting for Putin’s decision: the main nuances

Banks will be required to introduce a “cooling off” period for suspicious transfers

The government submitted proposals for the creation of a mechanism for banks to pay compensation to victims of fraudsters to Russian President Vladimir Putin. This was reported in the press service of the Cabinet. The head of state instructed the government and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation to submit relevant ideas by July 1. We are talking about the mechanism described in the bill adopted in the first reading back in March, but sent for further revision. How the implementation of the described mechanism will be legally formalized and how effective it will turn out, experts told MK.

Recall that in March of this year, in the first reading, the State Duma adopted a bill that obliges banks to return money transfers to customers if there is a suspicion of fraudulent activity. For example, if the transaction was made to the recipient’s account, information about which is contained in the database of the Bank of Russia “On cases and attempts to transfer funds without the consent of the client.”

“A law has already been passed, according to which the formation and maintenance of such a database is entrusted to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation,” says Maxim Fedorov, Investment Adviser at Fontvielle Investment Company. – Thus, the change in the volume of liabilities of banks should be accepted at the level of federal law. And already by-laws will regulate the mechanisms for implementing this system. For example, the use of a new system for monitoring customer transactions will require, perhaps, the restructuring of automated banking systems, and these moments can already be regulated by by-laws.” Currently, banks already track customer transactions as part of already established anti-money laundering processes. But if in this case everything is aimed at the stability of the financial system of the state, then the initiative under discussion is designed to protect the interests of citizens using the services of banks, the expert emphasized.

Another important requirement of the bill under discussion will be the need for banks to suspend suspicious transfers for two days (“cooling off period”). According to the regulator, last year the crooks carried out over 876 thousand operations, as a result of which they stole a total of about 14.2 billion rubles from the Russians. The average volume of one fraudulent operation is 15.3 thousand rubles. At the same time, banks reimbursed customers only 4.4% of what was stolen by swindlers. Such a discrepancy between losses and compensation has long been noticed in government offices. To this end, the president instructed to submit relevant ideas to change the situation by July 1, which led to the creation of the bill. “The document is important: the latest changes in the law “On the National Payment System” are dated 2018, since then the possibilities and methods of fraudsters have stepped far forward, regarding customer transactions carried out through remote channels, primarily mobile applications,” says Associate Professor of the Department of Global Financial markets and fintech PRUE them. Plekhanova Tatiana Belyanchikova.

According to the Bank of Russia, the most popular fraud scheme, which accounts for up to 80% of attacks on the wallets of Russians, is associated with social engineering and telephone phishing – this is the name given to the process of extorting personal data from bank customers by deliberately misleading and persuading over the phone. A person often realizes very quickly that he has become a victim of scammers, but by that time he is already losing money. “Thanks to the two-day period, the victim will have time to think about and evaluate the actions taken and cancel the transfer,” the Central Bank explained the need for the measure being introduced.

However, critics find many weaknesses in the proposed proposals. Our banking system is rightly proud of the speed of service, but the introduction of a “cooling off period” may deprive it of efficiency. As the head of the analytical department of the BKF Bank Maxim Osadchiy pointed out, the signs of fraudulent transactions posted on the Central Bank website are rather vague. It is clear that banks will play it safe and postpone almost any transfer for two days, which will turn the FPS (fast payment system) into a slow payment system. In addition, there is no appeal mechanism. “It is possible that bona fide recipients will be included in the database by mistake,” notes Maxim Chirkov, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Economics of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. “This will lead to the need to create a mechanism for verifying customers of the banking system in order to avoid the negative consequences of unfair competition or incorrectly provided information.” Thus, we are talking about an important initiative, but still unfinished and with “white spots”. How exactly they will be eliminated will probably be shown by the second reading of the bill in the State Duma.