Bank of Russia changes method of ranking banks by number of lending complaints
The Bank of Russia has published new rankings of credit institutions for 2025, which take into account the database of people’s complaints related to lending. Furthermore, the regulator has updated the method of comparing banks.
Now, the calculation factors in people’s substantiated lending complaints submitted not only to the Bank of Russia, but also to the financial ombudsman. At the same time, the calculation excludes complaints addressed to the financial ombudsman that are being contested in court. The regulator and the financial ombudsman handle different types of complaints. Namely, the Bank of Russia considers those relating to violations of federal laws, while the financial ombudsman reviews households’ complaints against credit institutions. Thus, people will have a clearer understanding of banks’ activities and their interaction with customers. Complaints are deemed substantiated if their examination finds evidence of consumer rights violations. A credit institution’s ranking depends on the number of complaints per 100,000 loan agreements.
In addition, all ranking participants are now divided into two groups, with the first one comprising large creditors (with over three million loans) and the second one covering all the rest (with less than three million loans). This will make it possible to compare banks with customer bases of similar sizes. The same approach will also be applied to microfinance organisations and insurers.
Public rankings are a tool driving customer centricity at financial institutions. The regulator positively assesses banks’ efforts to change their customer policies.