Complaints regarding CMTPLI accessibility and MFOs drop over 2024 H1
In 2024 H1, the Bank of Russia received 154,000 complaints from financial consumers, which is 8.9% less year-on-year.
These dynamics were associated with the decline in the number of complaints against insurers and microfinance organisations (MFOs) by 40.2% and 32.7%, respectively. Owing to, among other things, the Bank of Russia’s continuous work with insurance companies, on-site inspections and supervisory measures, the number of complaints about the inaccessibility of policies of compulsory motor third party liability insurance (CMTPLI) was ten times lower than in 2023 H1.
The number of complaints regarding MFOs’ activities contracted by almost one-third. This was due to the fact that complaints about coercive tied selling dropped by a factor of 3.2 and those about unacceptable terms of contracts concluded — approximately by a factor of 10.
There has also been a continuing decline in the number of consumer and mortgage lending appeals, namely by 15.8% and 1.8%, respectively. The legislative changes that came into effect in January 2024 helped significantly reduce coercive tied selling in lending (complaints were down by 40% year-on-year). Complaints about misselling also decreased by a factor of 3.6.
However, complaints against credit institutions, particularly related to cyber fraud and social engineering, have been generally growing in number.
Appeals concerning the repurchase of frozen foreign securities, received mostly in April—May, were one of the reasons behind the growth in the overall number of complaints against securities market participants. The number of complaints regarding the disagreement with the transition from the Social Fund of Russia to non-governmental pension funds (NPFs) and between NPFs increased. Most of these complaints were related to previous periods (primarily to 2018).