Protection of MFO clients enhanced: new version of basic standard
Microfinance organisations (MFOs) are banned from pre-ticking consent checkboxes on behalf of clients thus selling additional services to them, including if they are not offered simultaneously with signing an agreement. These requirements are set in the new version of the basic standard for MFOs approved by the Bank of Russia.
The standard also obliges MFOs to comprehensively inform consumers at all stages of additional service delivery about a given service and its provider, the right to reject the service, and the impact of this refusal on the terms of the microloan agreement.
Furthermore, MFOs are forbidden from using various visual techniques (colour, font size or font type, etc.) to draw consumers’ attention to the most favourable terms of the agreement while concealing the others.
As a whole, the revised document streamlines the requirements for MFOs, taking into account the current legislation. Among other things, it updates the procedure and timeframes for MFOs to consider consumer requests and provide information about agreements concluded and their inherent risks, as well as certain requirements for activities related to debt recovery.
The basic standard goes into effect on 1 July 2026.