The Bank of Russia reported a decrease in consumer complaints for the first quarter of 2024. The number of grievances submitted by financial consumers dropped by 13.6% compared to the beginning of 2023.
Mikhail Mamuta, Head of the Service for Consumer Protection and Financial Inclusion at the Bank of Russia, highlighted significant reductions in specific areas: “It is important that, over the first three months, the number of cases of misselling about which we received complaints from consumers declined by more than 70%. The number of complaints about hard selling of extra services associated with lending that the Bank of Russia received was nearly two times lower than in January—March 2023. These issues are in the focus of our attention.”
Mamuta attributed this decline to new legislation effective from January 2024, which targets aggressive sales tactics: “The law that came into force in January 2024 contributes to the decline in the number of cases of hard selling of extra services. The law provides for a range of measures to combat such practices,” he explained. He also noted that market participants have shifted towards customer-centric business models.
Complaints against insurers and microfinance organizations (MFOs) decreased significantly, down by 40.7% and 35.1%, respectively, compared to last year’s figures. In insurance, a notable reduction was observed due to fewer mass complaints concerning adjustments to the bonus-malus coefficient (BMC). Measures implemented by both regulators and market players appear effective; intermediaries filing these complaints for fees saw their activities curtailed as individuals must now verify their submissions manually.
Meanwhile, MFO-related complaints on various fronts like hard selling practices and cyber fraud also saw a marked decrease.
However, not all sectors experienced improvements. Complaints against banks increased slightly by nearly 5%, primarily driven by concerns over fraudulent activities which rose by 45.4%. Yet, there were declines in mortgage-related (-6.5%) and consumer lending (-15.9%) grievances.
In contrast, collective investment markets faced an upward trend in complaints exceeding one-third growth due largely to issues surrounding unit investment funds management and contract dealings with non-governmental pension funds. Securities market grievances also rose (+7.3%), fueled mainly by manipulation allegations stemming predominantly from a single source.