OREANDA-NEWS. The Bank of Russia’s Division for Handling Public Appeals, to be based in Saratov, starts its operations on 29 September. This operating unit, a new subdivision within the Service for Protection of Financial Services, Consumers and Minority Shareholders, is going to handle all incoming appeals, requests and complains as an integrated contact centre.

First Deputy Governor Sergey Shvevtsov speaks on the launch of the centre: ‘The main mission of the new centre is to respond to our people’s queries in a most timely manner so as to go beyond just meeting statutory deadlines but to provide real assistance to consumers in solving their problems. The consumer is understood to be the centrepiece of the financial market, which is why getting consumers’ signals is our priority as we seek to improve the operation of this market so people feel really protected. Consumer interactions with the financial market occur almost every day, and our objective is to ensure the consumer gets the friendliest possible treatment’.

Citizens can send their complaints and appeals by post and through the web-reception, where these, prior to the launch of the new centre, have been handled by a number of Bank of Russia subdivisions. In line with the legislation, responses should be provided within one month’s time. The new centre’s objective is to expedite this process. A custom algorithm, together with a harmonised approach to classing complaints, will enable the centre team to prepare and send back responses on a large portion of them within the timeframe of several hours to several days.

Promoting financial awareness is a Bank of Russia priority. This means that a complaint will be handled so that in addition to a response per se, the citizen will get recommendations on the course of action and the appropriate behaviour to escape a similar predicament in the future. Cases where supervisory action is required will be referred to relevant Bank of Russia’s supervisory subdivision.

There are plans to open a second contact centre, to be based in Vladimir. The two centres will employ a total of 155 people, all employees having received special instruction.

The centres are an important milestone in the ‘Complaints are Welcome Here’ project, the Bank of Russia-launched initiative to enhance protection of financial consumer rights. Under the project requirements, Bank of Russia experts will not only respond to each complaint but will look into all complaints so as to see how satisfied consumers are with financial market standards. This feedback is seen as a key component in the regulator’s tool as it seeks to build an unbiased understanding of the overall market and its specific sectors. This information will enable the regulator to take action needed to improve the operation and standards of the market players and financial products and services. Additionally, the Bank of Russia intends to drastically improve the style of its responses so that the verbiage is simplified and transparent.

The operations of the centre as a single point of contact will be rolled out on a phasal basis, with all processes scheduled to be complete in February 2017.