Contact center
(from Russia)
ext 00020 (from abroad)
Monday - Friday from 8:00 to 20:00 (Moscow time), except public holidays, free call from regions of Russia
25 february 2022, 07:05
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) Council, which, in accordance with the law, includes, among others, representatives of the Government of the Russian Federation, the Bank of Russia, and self-regulatory organisations on the financial market, positively reviewed the Chief Financial Ombudsman’s annual report on the FOS activities in 2021. The Council meeting was held on 25 February 2022. The FOS Council reviewed the report in accordance with Article 7 of Federal Law No. 123-ФЗ «On the Ombudsman for the Rights of Consumers of Financial Services». Based on the results of the review, the document was taken into consideration by the Council members.
«Last year turned quite special for the institution of the out-of-court dispute resolution, as since 1 January 2021 a compulsory out-of-court procedure had come into force in respect of all sectors of the financial market that were within our competence,» Chief Financial Ombudsman Yurya Voronin said.
The Financial Ombudsmen in 2021 dealt with appeals from consumers of insurance, microfinance, credit institutions, credit consumer co-operatives, non-governmental pension funds (NPFs) and pawnshops. According to preliminary data, the Financial Ombudsman Service received 179,911 appeals from consumers in 2021, which is 4% less than in 2020 (187,386 appeals).
Insurance disputes accounted for the vast majority of the appeals – 161,629 (89.8%), including 123,431 (68.6%) for CMTPL. The FOS received 14,163 appeals (7.9%) concerning disputes with credit institutions, 1,719 appeals (1%) against microfinance institutions, 818 appeals (0.5%) against credit consumer cooperatives, 73 appeals (less than 0.1%) against NPFs and 14 appeals (less than 0.1%) against pawnshops.
The Financial Ombudsmen issued 110,713 decisions as a result of reviews of consumer appeals, including 96,505 (87.2%) decisions to fully or partially satisfy a consumer appeal or to refuse to satisfy it (on the merits) and 14,208 (12.8%) decisions to discontinue consideration of the appeal.
In accordance with the requirements set forth by Article 13 of the Federal Law «On the Ombudsman for the Rights of Consumers of Financial Services», the Financial Ombudsman Service will publish a report on its website until 1 June 2022 containing information on the activities in 2021 with regard to each financial institution.
At the meeting the Council members also approved the annual accounting (financial) statements for the Ombudsman for financial services consumers support Service (OFSC) in 2021, as well as considered the report on internal audit in the 4th quarter of 2021 and the plan of internal audit in the 2nd quarter of 2022.
