CITIZENS SHOULD BE ABLE TO RECEIVE PENSIONS FROM ANY BANK THEY CHOOSE

Notwithstanding the existence of an agreement between the regional office of the Pension Fund of Russia and the selected credit institution

This possibility enshrined at the legislative level is one of the challenges of the FAS Russia on developing the competition in financial markets, Andrey Kashevarov, Deputy Head of the FAS Russia, said at the II Congress of the Association of banks of Russia on September 3.

The FAS Russia prepared the relevant draft law as a result of the implementation of the Road Map for the development of competition and it is currently being approved by relevant authorities.

“Its adoption will allow citizens to freely receive pension payments in the credit institution that is most preferable for them. Making a decision when choosing a Bank, they will be able to proceed from the additional services offered to them, loyalty programs and other advantages, rather than whether the organization has an agreement with the Pension Fund,” explained Andrey Kashevarov.

He also announced the establishment of equal conditions for allowing credit institutions to provide certain types of banking services and subsidies from the Federal budget an important area of the service's activity.

When assessing the financial stability of banks, the FAS Russia advocates phasing out the requirement for the amount of a credit institution's own funds, and instead suggests taking into account the levels of banks ' credit ratings as the main market criterion.

Assessing the financial stability of banks, the FAS Russia advocates phasing out the requirement for the amount of the credit institution's own funds, and instead suggests taking into account the levels of credit ratings of banks as the main market criterion..

Currently, the Russian Ministry of Finance is introducing amendments to the relevant regulatory legal acts at the Federal level.

“We believe that in order to ensure equal and competitive admission of financial organizations to state subsidy programs, it is necessary to establish an exclusively application procedure for participation in them,” said Andrey Kashevarov.

During the speech, he also spoke about the current law enforcement practice of the authority for the protection and development of competition.

“Since early 2020, we have issued 11 warnings to banks on the grounds of unfair competition. Lately, credit institutions increasingly mislead customers. On the websites of banks, there is either no information about the individual terms of the products provided, or there is, but incomplete and contradictory,” said the Deputy Head of the FAS Russia.

According to him, banks do not inform potential customers about restrictions for receiving cashback on credit and debit cards, and contracts, on the Bank's website and in personal accounts of clients do not contain not only available information about the services provided, but also clear terminology.

“In the recent practice of the service, there was a case when the bank worsened the conditions on the savings account of clients by lowering the previously promised maximum interest rate. Thus, the clients did not receive the conditions that attracted them,” Andrey Kashevarov noted.