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19 april 2023, 14:46
Chief Financial Ombudsman Yury Voronin made a presentation at the round table “Topical issues of protecting the rights and ensuring financial security of owners of cryptocurrencies and other digital financial assets”. The event was held at the Russian Public Chamber and was organized by Vladislav Grib, Chairman of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) Public Council.
The event was also attended by Artem Kiryanov, Deputy Chairman of the Economic Policy Committee of the State Duma of Russia, Andrey Borisenko, Deputy Director of the Legal Department of the Bank of Russia, members of the FOS Public Council, and market actors.
Yury Voronin, in his report, said that between 2019 and 2022 the Service received 611.8 thousand appeals from consumers of financial services, Financial Ombudsmen issued 357.9 thousand decisions. On average, an appeal is processed in an unprecedentedly short period of 16 days, he said.
The advancement of the Financial Ombudsman Service and generally the out-of-court procedure to consider appeals of consumers of financial services is due in part to the digitalization of the economy, that is the emergence and development of new “digital” relationships, including in the implementation of digital rights, the turnover of cryptocurrencies.
“The nearest change related to the digitalization of the economy will be the introduction of the digital rouble into civil circulation. The digital rouble will in fact be a type of non-cash funds (rights of claim) and, therefore, when appropriate regulation is adopted, consumer appeals containing claims arising from the circulation of digital roubles will be subject to review by the FOS,” Yury Voronin said.
The Chief Financial Ombudsman also noted that the introduction of the digital rouble will open up huge opportunities in the area of social protection. “Because the hassles that social services have had so far with “colouring” money, there simply won’t be any more,” he clarified.
Yury Voronin touched on the subject of the obligation for banks to make audio recordings when communicating with clients. Currently, there is no such obligation for banks, which makes it difficult in some cases to deal with consumer appeals and limits the ability to protect their rights. “It is very important, especially as we move into digital means of payment, to have such an evidence base to protect the rights of citizens,” the Chief Financial Ombudsman continued.
The Chief Financial Ombudsman also touched on the topic of digital currencies. According to the current regulation, digital currency is an asset and not a means of payment. According to the Financial Ombudsman Law, the Financial Ombudsman deals with appeals against financial institutions for the recovery of sums of money, while digital currency is not money, so in this context it is outside the Financial Ombudsman’s competence to deal with consumer claims for the recovery of cryptocurrencies. At the same time, the issue of the legal regime of digital currencies, including cryptocurrencies, remains insufficiently regulated at present, Yury Voronin added.
In addition, given the current regulation, the Financial Ombudsman will not be able to address the dispute related to utilitarian digital rights as well as digital financial assets.
In conclusion, Yury Voronin noted that the ongoing changes in finance, primarily related to digitalization, require constant monitoring by the government and all concerned parties. The Financial Ombudsman Service is paying close attention to all transformations, as the digitalization of finance affects the interests of all citizens in this country and requires adequate enhancement of instruments for protecting the rights of consumers of financial services.
