The Bank of Russia has announced a modification in its method of presenting comparisons of banks concerning lending complaints. This update includes the preparation of tables with indicators not only based on the classification of credit institutions (systemically important and other banks) but also taking into account the size of their retail customer base, specifically those with more than five million loan agreements with individuals. This modification aims to ease the comparison of the largest retail banks which account for over 90% of loans issued to individuals.
The new ranking consists of banks with a retail loan portfolio against which the Bank of Russia received at least one justified complaint about lending in 2024. A complaint is considered justified if an inspection uncovers a breach of consumer rights and the bank has been subject to enforcement measures.
The ranking for each credit institution will depend on the number of justified complaints per 100,000 loan agreements. Justified complaints represent a small portion of the overall number of applications, as they only include confirmed cases of consumer rights violations in mortgage, consumer, or car lending. The Bank of Russia intends to release this table with indicators annually.
The new ranking system is expected to assist people in choosing banking services based on other borrowers’ opinions and serve as a benchmark for credit institutions to improve the quality of their customer service.
