Mikhail Mamuta was born on September 29, 1974 in the city of Voronezh. Graduated from Voronezh State University with a degree in Nanoelectronics and Nanotechnologies. He has a master's degree in physics. Second higher education- «Finance and credit. Banking".
Since 1997, he has been working in the field of financial and credit technologies for small businesses and microfinance. In the period from 1997 to 2000, he worked in the administration of the Voronezh region, supervised issues of supporting small businesses. Has experience as an anti-crisis manager in banking. How the expert participated in the development guidelines Federal Financial Recovery Service Russian Federation on crisis management.
Since 2000, for three years, Mikhail Valerievich Mamuta has served as CEO Voronezh Regional Small Business Support Fund. He was engaged in the creation and development of a microfinance program, building a regional microfinance network in the districts of the region.
From August 2003, for nine years he was the director of the Russian Microfinance Center, from April 2006 he worked as the President of the National Partnership of Microfinance Market Participants. Mikhail Valeryevich was a member of the Council for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises under the Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.
Mikhail Mamuta takes an active part in shaping the ideology of creating in Russia an all-encompassing financial system, in the development of bills aimed at improving the access of the population and small businesses to financial services.
Since February 2011, he has been the Chairman of the Microfinance and Development Council. Since the same year, he has been an adviser to the Head of the Federal Service for Financial Markets. Since November 2012, he has been the President of the Russian Microfinance Center. On February 28, 2014, Mamuta Mikhail Valeryevich was appointed head of the Main Department of the Microfinance Market and Financial Inclusion Methodology Central Bank RF.
By order of the Chairman of the Bank of Russia, from April 25, 2016, the head of the Main Directorate of the Microfinance Market and Methodology of Financial Inclusion Mikhail Valeryevich Mamuta was transferred to the position of head of the Consumer Rights Protection Service financial services and minority shareholders.
In October 2018, Mikhail Mamuta was appointed head of the service of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation for consumer protection and ensuring the availability of financial services.
Mikhail Mamut awards
Gratitude of the Government of the Russian Federation for active participation in the implementation of the tasks of modernizing the domestic economy
Gratitude of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation for huge contribution in the development and strengthening of entrepreneurship in the Russian Federation, as well as the improvement of legislation in the field of entrepreneurial activity
A letter of thanks from the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation for a significant contribution to the development and support of small and medium-sized businesses
Badge of honor of the Support of Russia
Badge of Honor of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation
Graduated from Voronezh State University with a degree in nanoelectronics and nanotechnology. After graduating from the Faculty of Physics, he received a second higher education in finance and banking. Master of Physics (1997) and PhD economic sciences(2010).
Since 1997, he has been working in the field of financial and credit technologies for small businesses and microfinance. In 1997-2000 he worked in the administration of the Voronezh region, dealt with issues of supporting small businesses.
From 2002 to 2014, he headed the Russian Microfinance Center, from 2006 to 2014 - the National Partnership of Microfinance Market Stakeholders (NAMMS).
Since February 2014, he has been heading the Main Department for Microfinance and Financial Inclusion Methodology of the Bank of Russia.
Since 2013, he has been the Chairman of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion Digital Financial Services Working Group. The Financial Inclusion Alliance is a global community of financial regulators in over 90 countries. AT working group for digital financial services includes representatives from 50 countries.
Residents of the Far East began to complain more often about financial institutions in the region. According to the Bank of Russia, only for last year the increase in the number of complaints was almost 40%. Most often, customer dissatisfaction is caused by microfinance organizations and banks. A significant part of the complaints last year fell on the clients of ATB Bank, who purchased bills of LLC "FTK" through it. What will happen to these clients and how the Central Bank plans to rid the market of unscrupulous financial organizations, Mikhail Mamuta, head of the Service for Consumer Rights Protection and Financial Accessibility of the Bank of Russia, told in an interview with PrimaMedia news agency.
Mikhail Valeryevich, today your Service accumulates all appeals and complaints from Russians regarding the work of banks, insurance companies, microfinance organizations. What trends are visible in last years? Who do people from the Far East and Primorsky Krai have problems with most often?
The Far East has its own peculiarities: for example, in Russia as a whole, the number of complaints that we have received has not increased. And in the Far East, we note an increase of more than 40% over the year. Moreover, the strongest growth is in microfinance organizations and, in particular, in payday loans. For such complaints, we note an increase of 90%, this is a very serious indicator!
- Do they complain about official microfinance organizations or about "black creditors"?
A large number of complaints relate specifically to the black segment, and this is a serious problem, because people do not distinguish between real microfinance organizations and illegal immigrants.
I want to remind you that Yandex and I have implemented the "Marking" project, and all the websites of official companies are marked with a special "Security Register" badge right in the search results. It will not be superfluous for people to remember this and spend five minutes checking the organization in which they are going to take a loan. If a person does not do this, what does it say? On the one hand, about financial illiteracy, on the other hand, about a certain level of financial irresponsibility. A person wants to solve the problem here and now, without really thinking about what will happen next. And then people begin to write complaints, not even suspecting that they have become a victim of an illegal immigrant.
The problem is that by entering into relationships with so-called black creditors, a person himself takes himself out of the protection that the Central Bank can give, because we regulate only legal market participants. And the fight against black creditors is the task of the prosecutor's office and the police.
There is very strong competition in financial market, so there is a choice, and it always remains with the person. At the same time, in the legal space, we are introducing additional restrictions on various aspects of issuing microloans - from 2019, for example, the cost of a microloan cannot exceed 1.5% per day, and from July 1 - 1%. This is actually a fairly good level of socialization of this segment.
There is an opinion that just the introduction of restrictions on legal companies can lead to the opposite effect, the market will go into the shadows.
That is why, which entered into force at the end of January legislative changes provide that illegal creditors will no longer be able to demand repayment of the debt from the borrower through the courts, that is, they will lose the right to judicial protection. In addition, a draft law is being prepared to increase fines and introduce criminal liability for issuing loans by companies in the shadows. At the same time, new participants are entering the microfinance market today who are ready to work under the current restrictions, and we believe that it is precisely such companies - both new ones and those that have remained on the market and have managed to adapt their business models - that will make the market more socially oriented and less risky for the borrower.
We definitely do not have the task of transferring the market to black lending mode. People's need for money will always remain, so market participants should be able to satisfy their needs while in a regulated field.
What else do you complain about?
There are problems with collectors, although I remind you that the Bank of Russia does not regulate this market. On January 28, amendments to the law entered into force that prohibit creditors - these are banks, and microcredit, and microfinance companies, and pawnshops - to transfer debt to anyone other than professional creditors: banks or MFIs that are supervised by the Bank of Russia, and professional collectors whose work is controlled by the Federal Service bailiffs. Now the debt can not be sold to ordinary legal entities. This will improve quality control.
Now how is it going? A bank or an MFI sells a debt to a certain company, and that company sells it to another one. After five such sales, the trail is lost. It is not clear to whom to make claims for night calls, for broken windows, punctured tires on a car. Now the situation is simplified: if the creditor sold the debt in violation, then he is guilty and must answer, if he collects debts in violation, we can also punish him.
How often do you receive complaints about banks? In the Far East, for example, from time to time there are bursts of negativity in the information field about the supply of ATB Bank, which sold bills of exchange to customers for several billion rubles.
Complaints against the banking sector remain on a growing trend so far, and in the Far East, in particular, we note a 55% increase in the number of complaints against credit institutions compared to 2017. The main drivers of growth in your area are complaints about problems with deposits. Another problem is restructuring mortgage loans. They complain that they got into a difficult life situation, and banks refuse to restructure them, do not give them the opportunity to restore solvency and then return to payments. And the third problem is related to the use of cards and ATMs - most often we are talking about unauthorized debiting of money from cards. At the same time, the largest share among complaints against banks is occupied by issues related to consumer lending.
The story with ATB bills is one of those cases when the bank unfairly sold financial instruments. This was clean water misseling ( misselling is an unfair practice of selling financial products (services), when consumers are not informed about the features and risks of a financial product, as well as about other essential conditions related to the contract for the purchase of such a product - approx. ed. ). Often people think that if a certain product or tool is offered to them in a bank, then this banking product and it is subject to state guarantees for the return of money. And then they are shocked to find out that this is not so.
Now, in order to combat this phenomenon, banking associations have developed standards that establish responsibilities credit institution selling a non-banking product, to inform customers about all the features of such a product and, first of all, that this is not a deposit, and it is not included in state system insurance. As for the ATB story, the Bank of Russia decided to make payments in favor of the bill holder if the court of second instance can confirm that the person was really deceived by the bank manager, and did not consciously choose a more risky one investment product. The last word here in any case remains with the court.
At the same time, it is important for us that the courts form a unified position, so we are waiting for some case to come to Supreme Court and a final decision will be made.
Is the introduction of the institution of a mystery shopper in the Central Bank this year, which has never happened, is it also an attempt to solve the same issue?
Mystery shopping and so-called test buying is a very useful thing for behavioral surveillance, because violations often occur in such a way that they cannot be seen by looking at the text of the contract. This is usually the wrong selling process, and this is where the mystery shopper comes in handy. This function makes it possible, when we see sufficient grounds, to come unannounced to a financial institution and conclude a deal with it or go through certain stages of pre-contractual interaction and see how well the company fulfills its obligations to inform customers.
For example, bank management often puts a sales plan in front of the middle manager, and each manager thinks how to fulfill this plan, and everyone tries to achieve results to the best of their abilities and talents. As a result, instead of a deposit, they sell a bill or impose other products or services. The fight against misselling is one of our key tasks, and it is long-term, because misselling in the deposit market is not accidental.
In Europe, for example, it was a huge problem, because in a market with low rates, people are psychologically lacking in returns. In our country, for example, over ten years we have become accustomed to yields on deposits above 10-12%. At some point, the rate was 17%. And suddenly 5%! People think, how come five when you were 17?
- Therefore, probably, they also go to the pyramids, where they promise, conditionally, 300% per annum? Despite the sad experience of the 90s.
People want expensive deposits and cheap loans: give me a loan at 8%, and a deposit at 10%. We understand that this does not happen, since rates are tied to the level of inflation. The cost of a loan is the key rate of the Central Bank plus inflation, plus risks, plus the bank's margin. With low inflation, there can be no high rates on deposits.
Hence the interest of people in more highly profitable investments, often the most risky ones. I often communicate with the victims financial pyramids. They say: "We knew it was dangerous, but we wanted to earn more." The second answer: "We knew that it was a pyramid, but if you enter the pyramid and exit quickly, you will be able to earn money." You see, this is a conscious model of treating the pyramid as a risky investment. This is generally an unacceptable story, ethically unacceptable! You earn on the friends you bring to this pyramid.
The Bank of Russia is now able to quickly close these pyramids, but they are constantly changing, adapting to the situation, and until people themselves stop participating in them, it will be very difficult to completely defeat this phenomenon.
Michael Mamuta. Photo: provided by the press service of the Bank of Russia
Let's get back to mystery shoppers and banks. What will the checks affect? Will a specific performer be punished or will there be some systemic solutions?
Remember how long the transition from feudalism to capitalism took or how long it took industrial Revolution? It is impossible to reform supervision very quickly. And behavioral supervision is generally a new form of control over financial organizations in Russia.
Recently, the Bank of Russia has been not only a regulator of the financial market that monitors reserve standards, but also a regulator of behavioral models that controls the quality of relationships between financial organizations and consumers. And if, as a result of the test purchase, violations in this area are revealed, then we have the authority to apply liability measures to financial organizations: fines, instructions. This is the first half of the answer.
The second half is a change in the corporate governance system financial institution. We believe that the Board of Directors of a bank should have a person responsible for the quality of interaction with consumers. In addition, the manager's KPI should include an indicator of the quality of interaction with the client at all levels. Roughly speaking, if one of the employees was caught misselling, then the entire management vertical should suffer. For us, the discovered fact of misselling means that the entire company does not have the right to pay the premium in full. And if this is mass misselling, then she has no right to pay bonuses to staff at all.
We hope that test purchases will help us track the real situation on the market. Previously, by the way, the Bank of Russia simply did not have such powers, and if these powers need to be strengthened to protect consumer rights, then we will certainly propose this, discuss it with legislators and the market.
Now there is growth mortgage lending. A disproportionate increase in delinquency on such loans is not yet noticeable. Does this mean that everything is in order or that problems in the mortgage market are ahead?
Peculiarity mortgage loan that it is very long. During this time, the borrower's life situation can change many times. What happens when a borrower is in arrears? By law, after 90 days, the bank can start judicial recovery and sale of property. A person is already "under pressure", looking for a job, and then the bank is "pressing".
To the credit of large banks, it must be said that most of them meet the needs of the borrower, although it is impossible to guarantee their behavior, since the bank does not have such an obligation. But there are also banks that are evicted from mortgage housing.
In order to maintain long-term market stability and ensure that people are not left alone with their problems, a bill on "mortgage holidays" has been prepared. If the borrower finds himself in a difficult life situation - his salary has decreased or he has lost his job - then he should have the right during the loan term to take advantage of the possibility of suspending payments with the transfer of these payments to later dates. The right to a vacation or a period of reduced payments can be used once for one property, and it will be possible to take them for a period of 6 months. Although it should be noted that the exact parameters of the conditions for the provision of mortgage holidays are still being discussed.
- Why such a duration of "holidays" was chosen?
According to statistics, a job search in Russia lasts an average of six months. We guarantee that a person can easily look for a job or improve his health and then return to the pay schedule. As the practice of others shows developed countries, in 80% of cases this is enough. Everyone benefits: both the person and the bank, and confidence in the market is increasing. We hope that the market will support the bill and it will become law this year.
OSAGO remains one of the most problematic and discussed topics in the region. How did you manage to turn the tide here?
Indeed, OSAGO was the most problematic segment in the financial market. Primorsky Krai also fell into the red zone of regions with a large number of refusals in insurance, fraud. Now the situation has improved, and in general we have significantly fewer complaints from consumers.
The number of lawsuits on OSAGO issues decreased by 48%. Decreased, because, firstly, an electronic insurance policy has started to work - it's not clear everywhere yet, but it's working.
We have carried out massive oversight on accessibility electronic policy, corrected regulations and punished several companies, so that the situation returned to normal.
Secondly, we have adjusted the bonus-malus coefficient (MBM) - discounts for accident-free driving. We have implemented a process that allows you to restore the correct KBM in three days. Gradually the number of complaints about the application wrong KBM decreases.
The OSAGO market is complex in itself, so it needs a systematic and gradual reform. The expansion of the boundaries of the tariff corridor, which has already taken place this year, is precisely aimed at the maximum individualization of tariffs. The breakdown into categories has been increased so that the tariff reflects the real situation and the number of accidents that occurred due to the fault of a particular person. We will monitor, but for conscientious drivers, the fare should be reduced. It increases for inexperienced drivers and drivers with a high accident rate.
The first half of the year will pass, and we will see how the system works. But in general, we believe that a person should pay according to how risky he rides. Ideally, you will need to come to a tariff that will be as fair as possible for each person. It is clear that someone will still be dissatisfied, but there will be a reasonable choice: either you drive dangerously and pay more, or you change your driving style and pay less.
Since this year, the institution of the financial ombudsman has been introduced, will it not duplicate the functions of your unit?
The difference is the same as now between our functions and those of the courts. Bank of Russia supervisory authority, we can help a person in cases where a requirement of the law is violated, for example, a company was supposed to pay insurance for five days, but did not pay or imposed insurance. These are direct administrative violations, from which supervisory measures follow.
And a person goes to court when he believes that the insurance company owes him 100 thousand for damages, and the company believes that it owes 30 thousand. A property dispute is not our competence, but the courts.
The Ombudsman is such a mechanism of pre-trial simplified for a person consideration of his property complaints. There are very big difference, first of all, in terms of the timing of the consideration of cases by the courts and the Ombudsman and, of course, very high level specialization of the ombudsman.
The Institute of Financial Ombudsman is built on the principle of sectoral specialization. There is a chief financial commissioner, Yury Voronin has been appointed to him. It establishes general financial rules and ensures the functioning of the institution. There will be industry ombudsmen. Now he is appointed only in insurance - this is Viktor Klimov. The deadline for considering a complaint with the financial ombudsman is two weeks. It's fast and free for citizens.
If the company does not comply with the decision of the ombudsman, then the person can receive a copy writ of execution, go with her to the bailiffs and demand enforcement of the decision. It is clear that the organization still has the opportunity to challenge the decision in court.
Plus, and this is also an innovation, the introduction of the so-called double claim procedure. If the consumer believes that it is impossible to agree with the company and immediately goes to court, then further consideration of the case takes place in court. Often the consumer does not go to court, but applies to the company with a claim. She can ignore the complaint, since only the state is obliged to respond within 30 days, and a private company is not obliged. The Law on the Ombudsman establishes a new rule: the company is obliged to consider and within 14 days essentially respond to the consumer. If she did not agree with him, then the ombudsman considers the case on the merits, and he gives the company five more days for re-examination. At the same time, it is not the consumer who will pay for the examination, if any, but the company complained about.
Where will this most likely lead? In addition, it will be beneficial for companies to negotiate with a person from the very beginning. And referring the case to an ombudsman means that the company will pay for a review if the decision is not in its favor. The more she loses, the more she pays.
- Will there be regional ombudsmen?
We expect that the system will work online, that is, most disputes will be submitted through the Internet reception and will be considered in absentia. Regional offices may appear to organize initial appointments to help file complaints on paper - paperwork is not a very efficient but still valid mechanism. Also, appeals to the Ombudsman can be submitted through the My Documents centers or through the territorial branches of the Bank of Russia.
Modern technologies make it possible to get away from the need to submit documents in person, go somewhere and wait in lines. By the way, this is one of the reasons why it was possible to establish such short deadlines for the consideration of cases. If the disputes were considered in person, there would be no question of any two weeks. And this is especially true for the Far East: even if, say, a regional financial ombudsman appeared in Vladivostok, how would residents of Anadyr, for example, get to him? The online format solves this problem completely. And we hope that soon the new institute will help reduce the number of litigation between clients and companies. This will definitely help to increase the satisfaction of citizens with financial services, and most importantly - the overall level of confidence in the financial market.
Both tasks are extremely important, but they need to be solved taking into account the specifics of each.
— I would still separate these two problems. One topic is the regulation of creditors as one of the suppliers of debts. And the other is collection activity. Both tasks are extremely important, but they need to be solved taking into account the specifics of each. I'll start from the first. In fact, when talking about high interest rates on MFI loans, two different phenomena are confused: microfinance itself and payday loans. It so happened that they ended up in the same regulatory field. Although in the world these are two different types of activities that are regulated differently and perceived differently. Nowhere else will the word microfinance be associated with (payday loans).
Microfinance is, classically, business loans that help realize an entrepreneurial initiative. And payday loans are short loans at high rates that give people the opportunity to borrow money on short term in emergency cases without a deep analysis of the borrower's profile. Therefore, we recently separated these two concepts in the law - soon the companies will be called differently: entrepreneurial finance MFIs, or business MFIs, and consumer finance MFIs.
- Of course, and they will also be regulated differently, otherwise what's the point of changing the names.
— Allegations that MFI loan rates are not regulated in any way do not correspond to reality. Law on consumer credit since July 2014, the same legal regulation both for banks and non-bank creditors (IFIs, cooperatives, pawnshops). In particular, there is a rule according to which the maximum total cost of a credit (loan) in the relevant category cannot exceed the average market value by more than one third. So there can be no talk of any thousands of percent in the regulated sector. Although rates on payday loans still remain high, sometimes in the hundreds of percent, it should be noted that due to strong competition and the need for full disclosure of information by microfinance institutions, they have been declining throughout the past year.
We implemented a truly systemically significant innovation in the law, which comes into force at the end of March this year.
Another question is: is the current regulation sufficient to control the risks in this segment? In our opinion, no, more serious measures are required. And we have just implemented a truly systemically significant innovation in the law, which comes into force at the end of March this year. We'll talk about this in more detail a little later.
By the way, in most cases described in the media, when loan rates really reached thousands of percent, it was about illegal, or “black”, creditors who acted in violation of the law outside the field of regulation. Recently, thanks to our joint efforts with the Prosecutor General's Office and the ONF, we are learning to effectively deal with such violations, but illegal creditors still periodically appear in the regions, which also cannot be discounted when making any decisions.
The main problem with payday loans arises when, having taken money for several days, the borrower falls into delay and, in fact, cannot pay off the lender for, for example, a year. Then his debt grows to significant values, is transferred to collectors and these unacceptable and even truly tragic stories occur.
Having borrowed 5 thousand rubles, you will not be able to owe more than 20 thousand rubles in interest for any length of delay.
To solve this problem, in December 2015, at the initiative of the Bank of Russia and the government of the Russian Federation, amendments to the law on MFIs were adopted, which will come into force in March 2016. These amendments establish a debt limit of no more than four times total amount interest arrears on the loan amount. If you explain on your fingers, then having borrowed 5 thousand rubles, you will not be able to owe more than 20 thousand rubles in interest for any length of delay. This measure is additional to the already existing regulation of maximum interest rates in the consumer lending segment, as well as the limitation on the maximum amount of penalties and late fees (no more than 0.1% per day) established by consumer credit legislation.
Moreover, I will say right away that the first step has been taken, but not the last. We consider it correct and necessary to further reduce this indicator to two, which is generally in line with world practice. Other measures to limit social risk in this credit segment are also analyzed.
We do not need any market for the sake of the market. There are two models of consumer loans: civilized and wild. Civilized, this is when a microfinance company builds its risk model in such a way that it has three defaults for ten loans, relatively speaking. And money is made by properly calculated mathematical model and work with debtors within the framework of generally accepted ethical standards, helping them find a solution, rather than knocking out debts. Such companies, of course, exist in our market, mainly big players with clear shareholders. Although this is not directly related to the size of the business, you can be decent at any scale.
The uncivilized business model is when, on the contrary, only three loans are repaid on time, and a significant part of the income is derived from delinquency. This model is bad for both the lender and the borrower, and we will remove it from the market.
– In accordance with the law “On consumer lending» The activities of both banks and MFIs in consumer lending are regulated in exactly the same way. The same requirements apply to MFIs. The Law "On Consumer Credit" applies to them equally.
As for general supervision, we are constantly developing it, whether it concerns the formation of reserves or issues of financial stability.
- The Bank of Russia believes that the activities of collecting overdue debts, regardless of who is involved in this - a special agency, a bank, a microfinance organization or a consumer credit cooperative, should be regulated by strict standards. This requires the adoption of federal legislation. The Bank of Russia believes that under the law on collectors, the government will determine federal agency executive branch responsible for the regulation and supervision of collection activities.
Mikhail Mamuta, Head of the Central Bank’s Service, told the INMFO portal about how the work of the Central Bank on behavioral supervision of the microfinance market is arranged, how customer complaints about MFIs are changing and what to look for when choosing a company in which a person would like to invest their funds. on protecting the rights of financial consumers and ensuring financial inclusion.
When a person applies for a loan from an MFI, what should he know by heart, like the fact that we all know that two times two is four?
To begin with, a person must determine for himself why he goes to an MFI at all. From the point of view of “where to borrow money”, we now have very strong competition, both in the banking market and in the MFO market, where different types loans have their customers. MFIs today are a full part of the financial system, and companies have their own established line, which includes not only payday loans, but also POS loans and small business loans, which are issued at preferential rates, but for some reason this work of MFIs remains in the shadow big stakes on PDL loans.
Going to an MFI, a person should understand that if he wants to make some kind of long-term purchase, then it is not worth financing it with a payday loan, it will be expensive and inefficient. But if a consumer needs money for three days, then objectively this is, perhaps, an MFI market, or, for example, a pawnshop. Because if a person does not have a credit card, which can be used to receive a small amount in a bank, then you will not open it in a short time.
Isn't it worth it to advise such a client to open a card in advance? After all, it is not clear to us when funds may be urgently needed.
When answering this question, there are several "buts". Firstly, you still need to think carefully - do you really need this money, or maybe this purchase is not so important to you? We must always remember that payday loans are money for the most urgent and emergency expenses, when the advantages of a loan outweigh its disadvantages. Second, is it not worth opening the card in advance? Worth it, but who thinks about it in advance? Besides, credit card must also be used wisely - it has its own nuances, such as limited Grace period, Availability minimum payment, high percent for withdrawing cash from the card. Therefore, in this case, you must also carefully read the contract with the bank. It is easier for many people to apply to an MFI, since companies issue a simple product, with a clear deadline, with a prescribed payment.
- What is the biggest risk in a microloan?
This is an increase in interest on it if you do not repay the loan on time. But to prevent this uncontrolled growth of overdue debts, restrictive measures have already been introduced, and new restrictions will be additionally introduced. It should not be such that a person, having taken a loan for three days, is mired in debt. Therefore, the Bank of Russia and the State Duma are in favor of a consistent restriction size limit debt. It is possible that a number of other innovations will be adopted, not related to the amount of debt and interest rate but also aimed at consumer protection.
- What are the limitations?
In the Basic Consumer Protection Standard for Financial Services, we set a limit on the number of rollovers for loans. And this possible number of possible prolongations will also decrease from year to year, so that a person does not get hooked on a credit needle. But to date, 5 million people have taken loans from MFIs, and this is a significant number of citizens who, with the help of MFIs, were able to solve their financial problems. We would not like these people to go to the black market and begin to solve their problems with the help of illegal lending. Indeed, when dealing with illegal creditors, the risk is higher for everyone - both for the borrower himself and, as a result, for the state.
- How else have the regulator introduced or plans to introduce measures of influence on microfinance companies?
We constantly encourage companies in this sector to improve the quality of valuation credit risk. It is a very bad practice to issue obviously bad loans only with a presented passport. And as far as we can see, most companies, at least large ones that have the opportunity to invest in their development, are constantly rebuilding and improving the scoring model. And if they do not do this, then they will face the restrictive measures of the Central Bank, and they will not receive much profit from their work either. Therefore, the spontaneous PDL market, which originated 10 years ago, is now acquiring civilized features. And this happens thanks to the joint efforts of self-regulatory organizations, the regulator and, of course, the consumers themselves, who write us complaints and suggestions.
The head of SRO "Mir" Elena Stratieva said at a forum in St. Petersburg that the number of complaints against MFIs from consumers is small, only 5% of the total number of complaints against all companies in the financial sector over the past year. This is true?
Yes, this is the correct number. According to the results of the first quarter of 2018, this figure is 5.6%. Most people complain about banks, and then - about Insurance companies. But it must be taken into account that the insurance and banking market is much larger in volume than the microfinance market, so this is objective. At the same time, over the past year, the increase in the number of complaints against MFIs was lower than in the financial market as a whole. And it decreased, including on the most painful topic in 2026, related to the impossibility of servicing the debt. And when the number of customers served in this market sector grows, and the number of complaints decreases, the reason for this is always the same - the improvement in the quality of companies, including through measures to improve regulation.
There is an opinion of representatives of the MFI market that the introduction of a new product - a loan with a fixed rate, amount and term - will lead to the fact that people will simply not repay this loan, since there will be no sanctions for its non-repayment. But there is also the position of the Central Bank, which is that people, in order to receive and not return 5 thousand rubles, will not risk their credit history. What is your opinion?
You can take a loan and not pay it back once. But traces of such behavior remain, because MFIs, like banks, are required to submit reports to the bureau credit histories. If the MFI decides to issue a loan to such a “defector”, it bears credit risk. But, I think, there will be no people willing to lend to such clients. And what is the benefit for the consumer not to deliberately repay the loan before the salary? Well, you once took 5 thousand rubles, deceived the company - and that's it. Therefore, I think that there will be few people who want to take such a loan without the intention of repaying it, and then block their access to credits and loans for a long time.
Job Complaint Situation collection agencies cooperating with MFIs, has it changed in recent years?
Complaints about the recovery in the MFI market are the TOP anti-rating of our heroes. Yes, most of all now they complain about the penalty. Therefore, we support proposals to strengthen control over the work of professional collectors. Here we have two sides of the problem. First, that part of the collection process, which is carried out by the creditor, is insufficiently regulated. And we are trying to solve this problem through the basic standard of consumer protection in the financial market. The standard spells out in detail all the rules and requirements for communication with debtors, for the rules for storing information, for all the tools that are designed to make the procedure for communicating with the debtor transparent for control. This year, the standard will start working, and it will become easier for us to identify violations and punish them. There is also the second side of the problem - this is the so-called unregulated collection. For example, a company issued a loan, and then sold this debt to an unknown person.
At the same time, the law does not prohibit the sale of debts, it prohibits the company that bought the debt from collecting debts using collection practices if it is not a collector. Strictly speaking, the company that bought the debt must go to court. But if the debt is sold further along the chain, then at some point LLC Horns and Hooves will still arise, which may still try to collect the debt by illegal means. Where should the debtor go in this case? After all, these "horns and hooves" neither the Bank of Russia nor Federal Service bailiffs are not supervised. A person can only go to the police and write a statement about the threats. And it is difficult to prove these threats, and it is difficult to punish for them, except in especially extreme cases. Therefore, the Bank of Russia proposed, together with the Government, as well as a number of deputies and senators, to prohibit the assignment of debt to those companies that are not subject to regulation. That is, a bank can assign a debt to another bank, an MFI to another MFI, or to professional collectors who are included in the FSSP registry. Then if the MFI sells the debt to no one knows who, it will be severely punished for this.
Collectors complain that the law is very vague about what is considered a call to the debtor. That when the collector calls and does not even have time to get to the point, the person already hangs up, and it is not clear whether this should be considered a call. Will there be any changes in this matter?
The law regulating the work of collectors, like any law, develops based on law enforcement practice. When the practice is generalized and analyzed, then the law may change. But this requires serious analysis, because consumers are also an interested party here.
Let's talk about investing in microfinance companies. They are available to people with an amount of 1.5 million rubles. Is this investment worthy and is it an alternative to a bank deposit?
Investing in IFC is definitely not an alternative bank deposits because they are not covered by the deposit insurance system. Therefore, this is not savings, but still an investment. It is not for nothing that a fairly high amount of entry into the market is set in this segment - in order to cut off people with a low amount of savings, who will definitely be attracted high rate. And for a qualified investor, this is exactly the same risky investment as any other. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze what risk an investment in a particular company contains from the point of view of the reliability of this company itself. After all, a person can buy bonds of some plant on the stock exchange? Maybe. And this plant can go bankrupt. Therefore, the risk of buying, for example, IFC bonds is exactly the same risk as the risk of any other bond.
Interviewed by Georgy Demidov
