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21 march 2024, 12:56
On 21 March 2024, a meeting of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) Council was held under the chairmanship of Mr. Alexei Guznov, State Secretary and Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia.
Chief Financial Ombudsman Yury Voronin presented a Report on the FOS activities for 2023, and the Council members acknowledged and approved the document.
“The annual Report has traditionally turned out to be quite extensive, which is accounted for by the strengthening of various kinds of activities in 2023 in the sphere of interaction of the Service with the Bank of Russia, government authorities of all branches and levels of power, consumers of financial services, financial and expert organisations,” he commented.
In 2023, Financial Ombudsmen made 95,563 decisions based on the results of consideration of the appeals received. Financial Ombudsmen considered all appeals and made decisions on them within the time limits established by law. Not a single appeal in 2023 was considered outside the time limits established by law.
According to preliminary estimates, the Financial Ombudsman Service received 134,213 consumer appeals in 2023, which is 12.4 per cent less than in 2022, Yury Voronin announced.
“It seems to be mainly due to the ongoing trend of increasing the number of disputes resolved at the claim stage, as well as the restructuring of business processes in financial institutions. The Financial Ombudsman’s main function that stimulates the dispute resolution at the claim stage before applying to the Service is operating at its full capacity,” the Chief Financial Ombudsman clarified.
The legal positions of the Financial Ombudsman are clear and predictable, he went on. In most cases, a financial institution actually knows from the outset what decision the Financial Ombudsman will take on a particular dispute. "This, obviously, is additionally promoted by methodological work and collaboration with financial institutions, which is being actively carried out by the Service", Yury Voronin noted.
The overwhelming number of appeals received concern insurance organisations. The total volume of appeals in relation to those financial institutions decreased by 12.9%. “At the same time, disputes on motor insurance, primarily on MTPL contracts, continue to occupy an overwhelming share in the total volume of decisions on insurance disputes of 90.7%,” the Chief Financial Ombudsman explained.
As for credit organisations, the number of appeals decreased by 3.2%, in respect of MFIs by 20.2%, in respect of credit consumer co-operatives by 66.3% (at that, their number is insignificant – 415 appeals). The growth by 73% in the number of appeals occurred in relation to non-state pension funds. "For pawnshops the picture has not changed, appeals against them are sporadic, 13 appeals against 20 appeals in 2022, a drop of 35%,” Yury Voronin added.
In accordance with the requirements set out in Article 13 of the Federal Law “On the Ombudsman for the Rights of Consumers of Financial Services”, by 1 June 2024, the Report on activities in 2023 will be published by the Financial Ombudsman Service on its website, which will include information on citizens’ appeals in relation to each financial institution.
The Council members also approved the annual accounting (financial) statements of the Ombudsman for financial services consumers support Service (OFSC) for 2023, as well as examined the report on the implementation of the internal audit plan in the 4th quarter of 2023 and the internal audit activity plan for the 2nd quarter of 2024.
