05.07.2022 18:55 / TASS
The State Duma adopted a law on tax support measures for citizens and businesses The State Duma adopted in the third, final reading a law on a set of measures for tax support of citizens and businesses in the face of sanctions pressure. The document was initiated by the government of the Russian Federation.
05.07.2022 18:51 / TASS
The State Duma adopted a law on the merger of the PFR and the FSS The State Duma at a plenary session on Tuesday adopted in the third reading a bill on the creation of a unified Pension and Social Insurance Fund (Social Fund of Russia), as well as a package of related initiatives, including amendments to the Tax and Budget Codes of the Russian Federation.
05.07.2022 18:41 / TASS
Duma passes IPO/SPO bill in second reading The State Duma adopted in the second reading a bill aimed at developing the institution of public placement of securities on the Russian financial market. The document, which amends the law "On combating the misuse of insider information and market manipulation," was initiated by a group of deputies and senators headed by Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the State Duma committee on the financial market.
17.05.2022 16:18 / TASS
Central Bank to launch cybersecurity education course The Bank of Russia will launch an educational course on cybersecurity in the 2023-2024 academic year at the Higher School of Economics (NRU HSE), announced Head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Elvira Nabiullina, speaking at Junior Pay Tech Forum 2022.
19.04.2022 16:49 / The Bank of Russia
Russian issuers to close foreign depositary receipt programmes A ban on issuing and trading in foreign depositary receipts for Russian issuers’ shares will come into effect on 27 April 2022.
15.04.2022 16:36 / TASS
The Central Bank of Russia rolls out new support measures for the financial sector The Central Bank has prepared a new series of measures to support the Russian financial sector, the regulator said in a release. The CB allowed banks until the end of the year to postpone the formation of reserves for possible losses in respect of assets that have been blocked abroad.
Microfinancing: new caps for marginal debt value and daily interest rate
04.01.2019 18:14 / The Bank of Russia
That means that if a borrower has taken out a loan of one thousand rubles, for example, their debt shall never exceed 3.5 thousand rubles (principal plus accrued interest and other payments). The law stipulates that starting 1 July 2019 the limit will be set at the two-fold amount of the loan, and starting 1 January 2020 – at the 1.5-fold amount of the borrowed sum.
A further innovation involves capping the interest rate at 1.5% per day and concurrently setting the limit on the total cost of credit. Starting 1 July 2019, the daily interest rate will be reduced to 1% per day.
Taking into account the average sum of short-term loans (the so-called “payday loan”), legislators introduced a special loan not exceeding 10 thousand rubles for up to 15 days. The interest accrued on such a loan shall not exceed 3 thousand rubles (or 30% of the original sum of the loan if less than 10 thousand rubles has been taken out for 15 days). The daily payment on such a loan shall not exceed 200 rubles. This loan shall not be subject to the above-mentioned caps, however it will be prohibited to extend it or increase its original sum.
Federal Law No. 554-FZ ‘On Amending the Federal Law ‘On Consumer Loans’ and the Federal Law ‘On Microfinance Activities and Microfinance Organisations’ was signed by the RF President V. Putin on 27 December 2018. The law will come into effect one month after its official publication.
The new law will also limit the number of potential assignees under consumer loan agreements. For example, no creditor shall be allowed to assign debt collection rights to rogue debt collectors.
Special attention shall be given to the provision of the law which stipulates that illegal creditors or illegal collectors shall lose the right to enforce, including in a court of law, the execution of a concluded consumer loan agreement or rights assigned under such agreement.
The new standards represent a more streamlined system of financial consumer protection, which includes measures against unfair practices related to issuing payday loans and debt collection, thereby making the law especially timely and socially important.
‘Microfinance organisations issuing loans at virtually maximum interest rates shall either have to change their business model or exit the market,’ said Ilya Kochetkov, the Director of the Microfinance Market Department. ‘We are fully aware of the fact that these innovations will not please everybody, however, they will benefit borrowers and help considerably alleviate their debt burden’.