Bank of Russia meeting examines complaints from businesses regarding refusals of banking services

On 26 October, the Bank of Russia conducted a meeting in conjunction with Rosfinmonitoring, representatives of the office of the Presidential Plenipotentiary for business rights, members of business associations OPORA RUSSIA and Business Russia, and the association of banks RUSSIA. At the meeting, participants discussed complaints made by businesses about banking services being refused due to banks having access to information on prior refusals.

Alexander Kalinin, president of OPORA RUSSIA, said that according to the Association 80-85% of refusals are well-founded, and instances of bona fide customers being included in the list of refusals can for the most part be explained by the fact that banks do not take businesses’ sectoral specifics or their particular taxation regimes into account.

Representatives of the Plenipotentiary for business and business association rights stressed the need to introduce an efficient mechanism for removing bona fide banks from the list of refusals. The meeting resulted in the decision to collaborate on such a mechanism.