The Bank of Russia has reported receiving over 241,000 complaints in the first nine months of 2024. This figure is comparable to the previous year, although there has been a notable decline in specific areas. Complaints regarding banks' coercive tied selling have decreased by 40.6% year-on-year, and cases of misselling have reduced by a factor of 2.7.
Conversely, complaints against credit institutions as a whole have increased by 18.3%. A significant contributor to this rise is bank customers seeking to regain access to remote banking services. In July, new legislation aimed at combating fraudulent transfers was enacted. This law includes measures to prevent stolen money from being withdrawn and cashed out and requires banks to disconnect customers from remote banking services if they are found involved in fraudulent schemes.
The Bank of Russia continues to address complaints related to cyber fraud and social engineering techniques used by malefactors.
Complaints about compulsory motor third-party liability insurance, accident insurance, and health insurance have seen reductions of 31.4% and 40.1%, respectively. Overall, complaints concerning insurers' activities fell by 27.3%.
Complaints against microfinance organizations also decreased by 29.8%, with fewer issues reported about coercive tied selling, fraud, and inaccurate information in credit histories.
A new procedure for handling financial consumer and investor complaints took effect on July 1, 2024. Now, these complaints are submitted directly to the financial institution involved. Financial institutions independently reviewed around half of the 87,800 complaints received by the Bank of Russia over three months.
The regulator publishes key results from conduct supervision efforts, including information on restoring consumers' rights and identifying complaint causes. During the first nine months of 2024, participants returned money to customers and canceled liabilities totaling ₽2.2 billion according to conduct supervision results.