The State Duma will consider the draft bill “On the Introduction of Amendments to Article 29 of the Federal Law ‘On Banks and Banking Activity’” (in the section which establishes the responsibility of lending agencies to inform clients about commission rates when withdrawing funds at ATMs). This is the bill’s second reading; the first occurred at the end of January, 2010. The bill has been improved with corrections prepared by the Association of Russian Banks and its members.
The bill would require banks to warn a client—the user of a debit card— about the bank’s commission rate on withdrawing funds from an ATM. The bank would also need to add a separate line on the ATM receipt listing the amount of commission taken as a result of the transaction.
Liana Pepelyaeva, Deputy Chairwoman of the Committee on the Financial Market, stated that the bill gives citizens the right to receive information regarding the cost of banking services. “Unfortunately, many banks today do not show the commission amount when withdrawing money. This commission is sufficiently high, and many banks have recently raised it 2-3 times without notifying their clients.”
Liana Pepelyaeva believes that such a practice undoubtedly infringes upon citizens’ rights. Thus, legislators are supporting the idea of requiring banks to notify clients about the cost of commission by adding regulations to the Law “On Banks and Banking Activity”. The Committee on the Financial Market is also suggesting that lawmakers examine the possibility of broadening such requirements to not only include the use of debit cards, but for all banking operations that individual clients use.
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