Residents of Russia, who have disputes with banks or insurers, will have to resolve issues not in court, but through the financial commissioner for the rights of citizens. This practice is designed to teach citizens to resolve conflict situations out of court. The Bank of Russia made such an initiative, it was supported by many market participants.
The regulator has prepared amendments to the draft law on the financial ombudsman, which can not take as much as four years. The idea of ??creating such an institution is that a citizen can settle any disputable situation with the companies supervised by the Central Bank (banks, microfinance and insurance organizations) not only in court, but also in pre-trial order - with the help of a financial ombudsman. And only if the decision of the commissioner does not satisfy the plaintiff, he will be able to go to court.
According to the current version of the bill, an appeal to the financial ombudsman is not mandatory for citizens. However, the Bank of Russia agreed with the Ministry of Finance on the possibility of making this stage in the consideration of disputes mandatory. For citizens, this will not entail additional costs, because the application will be free, and the work of the Fin-budsman at the first stage will be paid by the Central Bank, and then - by the credit organizations themselves.
The head of the Bank of Russia service for protecting the rights of consumers of financial services and minority shareholders, Mikhail Mamuta, says that citizens will need to get used to the new order. "Therefore, there must be a certain run-up between the moment when joining the institution of a financial ombudsman becomes mandatory for a financial company, and the moment when applying to it becomes mandatory for a citizen. This is six months or a year, depending on different markets, "Mamuta's words" Izvestia ".
In the insurance market in the part of disputes on OSAGO from 2014. There is a claim procedure: the car owner before filing a lawsuit must first send a claim to the insurance company. Therefore, to transfer OSAGO to new rails will be easiest: the claim order will simply be transferred to finnbuudsman. In addition, it will deprive the earnings of unscrupulous auto-seekers, who take from customers fabulous money in order to sue the payment of OSAGO.
If the adoption of the law will not be procrastination, the resolution of disputes on OSAGO with the help of an authorized person can earn already from the first quarter of 2018. Then, by stages, by 2021. On the new order will switch the remaining types of insurance, microfinance organizations, banks and other financial organizations interacting with natural persons.
Citizens will be able to contact Finnbudsman via the state services portal and by e-mail. His decision will be binding for companies: thus, the authorized person is effectively equal to the arbitrator. If the bank or MFIs strongly disagree with the verdict, they can apply to the court within 30 days, Vedomosti reports..
Mikhail Mamuta argues that the mandatory participation of the Finmudsman in resolving disputes will seriously relieve the judicial system, and furthermore "will stimulate the creation of more honest and trustful relations between financial organizations and citizens". Banks will be financially interested in meeting clients more often, because the more controversial situations will be resolved directly, the fewer complaints will be against it to the financial ombudsman and, consequently, the less it will have to pay for the maintenance of this institution. In addition, potential customers will have one more criterion for choosing a bank - the minimum number of disputes with customers.
In the Association of Russian Banks, where there is a financial ombudsman, the Bank of Russia's proposals were conceptually supported. But the general director of the MAKS insurance company Nadezhda Martyanova believes that the institute can increase the financial burden on insurers, since the question of financing the ombudsman in details has not been worked out. In addition, there is a danger that the ombudsman will make too cautious decisions if he subsequently has to compensate the insurers who won the litigation.
Thus, market participants have reasonable doubts that Finmudsman will really simplify the life of individuals and companies, and not become another bureaucratic step.
The draft law on the financial authority for the rights of consumers of financial services was prepared in 2013. Ministry of Finance, but after passing the first reading in 2014. Its consideration was suspended. At the end of 2016 g. The government and the Central Bank agreed on the configuration of the new institute and prepared amendments to the second reading of the bill.