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- We reached the pens: a flood of complaints forced the Central Bank to respond to deception in advertising deposits
We reached the pens: a flood of complaints forced the Central Bank to respond to deception in advertising deposits
Banks continue to deceive Russians by promoting supposedly profitable deposits on websites and in advertisements — the Central Bank receives such complaints. Although the problem has been relevant since at least the summer of 2024, it is only now that the Bank of Russia and the Federal Antimonopoly Service have begun to prepare the first written recommendations for the market on the rules for disclosing information about deposits. This was reported to Izvestia by the head of the Consumer Protection service of the Central Bank, Mikhail Mamuta. Due to the high cost, financial institutions offer very profitable returns, but often in order to get them, you need to fulfill too many conditions, which banks are silent about until the last.
Deposit advertising requirements
The Central Bank, together with the Federal Antimonopoly Service, is preparing the first written recommendations for banks to inform customers about deposit conditions. Mikhail Mamuta, head of the Consumer Protection Service of the Bank of Russia, told Izvestia about this. According to him, the regulator has already conveyed new requirements to market participants, but now they are planned to be sent in the form of a letter.
— Before concluding an agreement, the information about the deposit returns is not always fully and honestly communicated to the client. It is not always clear to him that obtaining profitability is associated with a lot of additional conditions. Indeed, there is such a problem — we see it from the complaints," Mikhail Mamuta said.
He explained that the calculation of the total return should be honest and consistent with what is written in the contract. In addition, all additional conditions for receiving interest must be communicated to the client in the same place where he learns information about them. In particular, as Mamuta clarified, the rules of the Central Bank and the Federal Antimonopoly Service will determine the principles of displaying information about deposits in advertising and other channels of communication with consumers (for example, on websites or in newsletters. — Izvestia).
The FAS editorial office confirmed that the service, together with the Central Bank, continues to develop joint recommendations for banks to inform citizens about deposit conditions. The fact that changes are overdue is also understood by the participants of the financial market themselves.
— The banking community continues discussions with the Central Bank and the Federal Antimonopoly Service. Credit organizations are interested in informing customers about deposit conditions in good faith," said Sergey Klimenko, Vice President of the Association of Banks of Russia.
The new requirements of the Central Bank are designed to increase the transparency of information about deposits, the press service of the Post Bank emphasized. The rules may apply to both deposit rate tables and the display of information about additional income allowances.
The changes were required due to the record demand of Russians for savings products, the Postbank clarified. According to the Central Bank, the population's funds on deposits reached 57.6 trillion rubles by the end of 2024, which is a quarter more than a year earlier. The problem with the inaccurate display of information began to arise in the summer of 2024, when the FAS informed Izvestia that they were working on new requirements for advertising savings products.
VTB analysts predict that by the end of 2025, the deposit market will increase by another 18% and exceed 68 trillion rubles. The inflow of funds from individuals is ensured by favorable deposit rates, which are possible due to the high key. According to the latest calculations of Izvestia, now the average yield on savings products reaches 20%.
What to look at when making a deposit
Banks may unfairly display information not only in advertisements on television or on the Internet, but also on their websites or in brochures, and even at the stage of concluding contracts.
As a rule, we are talking about incomplete communication of all the parameters of the transaction to the client and ambiguous wording in the document, explained Victoria Lukina, a leading analyst on bank ratings at Expert RA agency. For example, when part of the terms is not provided in the contract, there may be a reference to a document that can only be found on the bank's website. That is why it is important to indicate all the details in the same place where it says about the best bid.
— Banks can also describe the possibility of deterioration of deposit conditions, but the criteria are not formulated clearly enough, — Victoria Lukina explained.
Deposits with the possibility of withdrawing and replenishing funds provide a special scope for such violations, added economist Andrei Barkhota. The formulas for calculating profitability for such products are quite complex, because they take into account the amount of the irreducible account balance. An untrained person may not understand these mechanics, so they may not realize that their percentage was lower than expected.
In addition, banks now often offer an increased rate for only a few months, after which they decrease, said Vladimir Chernov, analyst at Freedom Finance Global. They may also not specify in sufficient detail the conditions under which the deposit will be extended after its expiration date.
How can the deposit requirements change?
The basic requirements for disclosure of information about deposits are already fixed in the law, said lawyer Anton Palyulin. And the rules for displaying deposit data in the contract can be called strict: they oblige the bank to indicate on the first page a table with key conditions, the minimum guaranteed rate, and also publish the same data on their websites.
"The authorities will probably continue to detail them in order to make the display of information even more transparent,— Anton Palyulin concluded.
The requirements should not significantly change the composition of the contracts, the lawyer explained. First of all, they will affect the ways in which important information is conveyed to the client.
The authorities may urge banks to simplify contracts, said Vladimir Chernov from Freedom Finance Global. It is appropriate to additionally highlight and explain the key information for calculating income so that the client can understand it without reading legal texts.
How will the authorities regulate deposits
So far, the Central Bank and the FAS are preparing only written recommendations. They are not legally binding, but such a document has great weight for the banking sector, Vladimir Chernov emphasized. Ignoring it can damage the organization's reputation in the eyes of the regulator and result in increased control, fines and sanctions.
In addition, the antimonopoly service has every reason to initiate proceedings against banks for unfair deposit promotion. If the advertisement does not display the key conditions for obtaining such a return next to the high bid, this is already a violation, Anton Palyulin explained. At the same time, courts and supervisory authorities are attentive to the Central Bank's position when making decisions. And any public information about violations is a strong anti—advertisement of the bank and its products, Andrei Barkhota added.
"It will be very unprofitable for the market to ignore the recommendations of the Central Bank, so one way or another they will be respected," concluded Vladimir Chernov.
If this does not happen, the Central Bank may push lawmakers to tighten the requirements for disclosure of information about savings products, explained Victoria Lukina from Expert RA.
The probability of securing "deposit standards" in the law is, in principle, very high, Andrei Barkhota concluded. Perhaps the deposit market really needs more detailed rules of the game, especially in the context of a record high key interest rate, which is unlikely to decrease significantly in the near future.
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