Banks tend to offer unneeded financial products less often
Misselling almost halved in 2023. Such a decrease became possible owing to supervisory measures taken by the Bank of Russia.
In 2023, the regulator carried out 265 inspections at 25 branches of credit institutions in order to check how banks inform their clients. In addition, the Bank of Russia conducted 120 control checks (test purchases). When identifying a credit institution to be checked, the Bank of Russia used information from volunteers of financial education among other things.
Taking into consideration the identified violations, the regulator prepared reports and issued orders to pay fines. According to the findings of inspections, in some cases, banks did not explain to their clients the particular aspects and risks of investment products that they offered instead of deposits. People were not informed that returns on investment were not guaranteed. Moreover, some banks offered combined and structured products intended only for qualified investors.
Based on the findings of on-site inspections in the first half of the year, many banks and non-bank financial institutions took the following measures: they organised training for employees, adjusted sales scripts, and a third of banks made internal test purchases. One insurance company reported a break in relations with its agent bank.
As a result, the misselling index dropped from 0.66 (according to the 2022 data) to 0.37. The indicator is calculated as the ratio of the number of detected violations to the number of inspections. This takes into consideration weighted average data on credit institutions and insurance companies as well as professional securities market participants.